The number of presumed Ebola deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo has exceeded 200, the Ministry of Communications and Media said in its annual report.
According to official figures, the epidemic has now affected three provinces: Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. “204 deaths presumed to be caused by the virus have been registered and 867 presumed cases of infection”, the ministry noted. Laboratory tests have so far confirmed 10 deaths and 91 cases of infection.
The epicenter of the outbreak is in Ituri province, bordering Uganda, where one death and five suspected cases have been recorded so far.
The Congolese health service received the first alarm signals on May 5, but experts do not rule out the possibility that the virus had been circulating among the local population for several weeks before. On the night of May 17, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo and Uganda a global emergency.
The current outbreak is caused by the Ebola-Bundiboujo virus, first identified in Uganda in the fall of 2007. Its mortality rate is approximately 30-50%. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for it.