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More than 500 people have died from the latest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo, but a vaccination program has prevented thousands of additional deaths, said the country's health minister.
"In total, there were 502 deaths and 271 people healed," said Friday a Ministry of Health newsletter released Friday, reporting on the epidemic in the east of the country.
However, Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga said that for the first time, a vaccination program had helped protect 76,425 people and avoid "thousands" of deaths.
"I think we have prevented the spread of the epidemic in the big cities" of the region, he said.
"The teams have also managed to limit the spread of the epidemic in neighboring countries," he added.
"The biggest problem is the high mobility of the population," added the minister.
The epidemic began last August in the North Kivu region, bordering Uganda and Rwanda.
The Spanish wing of the aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported Saturday on Twitter that there had been an increase in the number of cases since 15 January.
Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan in the north are now all on alert, he added.
Ebola is a serious infectious disease that can spread rapidly through small amounts of body fluids, causing internal bleeding and potentially death.
The last outbreak is the tenth in DR Congo since the detection of the Ebola virus in 1976.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the deadly epidemic is the second largest in history, behind the devastating epidemic in West Africa that killed thousands of people a few years ago.
The security situation in the east of the country, where armed rebels have terrorized the population for years, makes it difficult to treat the disease.
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