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More than 2,500 people have been infected in what is now the second largest epidemic of the disease in the world
By Sonia Elks
LONDON, Aug. 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Further efforts will be needed to defeat the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, humanitarian and medical groups said Thursday as they commemorated the year since declaration of the epidemic.
More than 2,500 people have been infected in what is now the second largest epidemic of the disease in the world.
Here are some key facts and figures about the Ebola virus:
1. A total of 2,701 people were infected during the current outbreak of Ebola in Congo, of whom 1,813 died. Nearly one third of the cases were children.
2. Nearly 150 infections have been recorded among health workers and more than one in four have died.
3. The world's worst Ebola epidemic, a haemorrhagic fever, began in Guinea in December 2013 and swept through Liberia and Sierra Leone, leaving more than 11,300 people dead.
4. The Ebola virus causes fever, flu-like pain, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea and spreads to humans through contact with the body fluids of an infected person.
5. The average mortality rate by Ebola is about 50%, although it has varied from a quarter to 90% depending on epidemics.
6. The WHO said two weeks ago that the current Ebola outbreak had been declared a public health emergency of international concern.
7. The number of cases reached 1,000 in March and more than doubled over the next four months.
8. Since the beginning of June, the number of new cases reported per week has remained high, averaging between 75 and 100 per week.
9. Several Ebola cases have been registered at the Ugandan border, while Rwanda is closely monitoring recent cases in the border town of Goma, Congo.
10. At least 198 attacks against health facilities and health workers for the Ebola virus have occurred in the Congo since January, with health workers facing militia violence and local mistrust. the response.
Sources: World Health Organization, Ministry of Health of Congo, Doctors Without Borders
(Report by Sonia Elks @soniaelks, edited by Claire Cozens) Thank you for crediting the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT + rights, human trafficking, Property Rights and Climate Change Visit http://news.trust.org
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