Ebola Crisis Resurfaces in DR Congo

(MENAFN) At least 16 individuals, including four medical personnel, have lost their lives in a fresh resurgence of the lethal Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), according to government officials in the Central African nation.

As of now, authorities have identified 28 potential cases in Kasai province.

According to the Congolese health ministry, laboratory testing has confirmed the presence of the Zaire variant of the virus.

“The case fatality rate is estimated at 57%, although investigations and laboratory analyses are continuing to refine the situation,” the ministry noted, highlighting that this marks the 16th recorded outbreak in the country.

The administration reported that it has mobilized emergency teams, with assistance from World Health Organization (WHO) specialists, to strengthen disease tracking efforts and establish screening and isolation zones.

Ebola, a highly infectious hemorrhagic illness, transmits through direct exposure to contaminated bodily fluids or tissues. Common symptoms include elevated body temperature, exhaustion, head pain, throat soreness, vomiting, diarrhea, skin eruptions, and both internal and external hemorrhaging.

The last Ebola detection in DR Congo occurred in 2022 in Equateur province.

This followed a catastrophic outbreak between 2018 and 2020 that resulted in nearly 2,300 fatalities.

The nation, already grappling with violent unrest in its resource-rich eastern territories driven by the M23 rebel faction, is simultaneously facing several severe disease outbreaks.

These range from those described as “mysterious” to the Mpox virus, previously termed monkeypox.

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