Ebola outbreak claims 65 lives in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Ebola outbreak claims 65 lives in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
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An outbreak of Ebola has reportedly killed 65 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, The Guardian reported citing health officials.

There have been 246 suspected cases of the haemorrhagic fever reported so far in the conflict-hit Ituri province, which shares borders with Uganda and South Sudan.

Uganda’s health ministry said it had also confirmed an outbreak and that a 59-year-old man had died in a Kampala hospital from the disease after travelling from the DRC.

Officials at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said they were concerned about the risk of further spread. Ituri province is home to mining towns where people are constantly coming and going, making infectious disease control challenging.

Ebola is a severe illness with a high fatality rate. It is spread through direct contact with body fluids such as the blood or vomit of infected people, or dead bodies, such as during funeral preparations.

The DRC has had 16 outbreaks of Ebola since the virus was identified there in 1976. Typically it has been the Zaire strain of Ebola, for which vaccines are available. However, DRC health officials said the samples tested were of the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no licensed vaccine. There have been two previous outbreaks of Bundibugyo virus, in 2007 and 2012.