BREAKING: New Ebola outbreak rocks Congo with two cases CONFIRMED and 10 more suspected
TWO fresh cases of deadly Ebola have been confirmed and 10 more are suspected in Congo fuelling fears of another global outbreak of the disease.
By Joshua Nevett
DailyStar.co.uk
8th May 2018
Jean Jack Muyembe, head of the national institute for biological research in the Democratic Republic of Congo, confirmed the new outbreak of the lethal infectious disease on Tuesday.
Two cases have been confirmed and 10 more are suspected, according to Congo’s health ministry.
The new cases will alarm health officials after an unprecedented outbreak of the disease between 2014 and 2016 killed more than 11,000 people across western Africa.
Cases of the disease, a type of viral hemorrhagic fever, were confirmed in Britain, Italy, Spain and the United States, where one person died.
The epidemic of 2014 to 2016 was the most widespread outbreak of Ebola in history, plauging countries such as Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone with death and economic woe.
In June 2016, the outbreak was officially declared over, but the virus is still present in several African countires.
People who remain most at risk are those who care for infected people or handle their blood or fluid, such as hospital workers, laboratory workers and family members, according to NHS guidance.
To date, the latest outbreak is the ninth time Congo has been stuck by the disease, which kills between 25-90% of those affected.
The most recent outbreak of Ebola in Congo was declared contained in July 2017, having killed four out of the eight it infected.
Ebola is believed to be spread over long distances by bats, which can host the virus without dying, as it infects other animals it shares trees with such as monkeys.
It often spreads to humans via infected bushmeat.
Congo’s vast, remote geography gives it an advantage, as outbreaks are often localised and relatively easy to isolate.
In West Africa, the Ebola outbreak that ended in 2016 killed more than 11,300 people and infected some 28,600 as it rolled through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia before finally being contained.
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