[ad_1]
PHOTO FILE: A medical worker wears a protective suit as he prepares to administer Ebola patient care at the Alima treatment center of the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) in Beni , in the province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, September 6, 2018. REUTERS / Fiston Mahamba / Photo File
KINSHASA (Reuters) – The Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo is now the second-largest in history, with 426 confirmed and probable cases, the ministry of health said Thursday. Health.
The 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa, where more than 28,000 cases have been confirmed, now exceeds the epidemic in an unstable part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and surpasses the epidemic. the size of 2000 in Uganda, which concerned 425 cases.
Ebola is believed to have killed 245 people in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, where attacks by armed groups and community resistance to health officials hindered the response.
Congo has experienced 10 outbreaks of Ebola since the discovery of the virus in that country in 1976. It spreads through contact with body fluids and causes haemorrhagic fever accompanied by severe vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding. Many outbreaks are deadly in many cases.
"This tragic step clearly shows the complexity and severity of the epidemic," said Michelle Gayer, senior director of emergency health services at the International Rescue Committee, in a statement. "The dynamics of conflict (mean) … a prolonged epidemic is … likely, and the end is not in sight."
Report by Giulia Paravicini; Edited by Tim Cocks and Andrew Heavens
[ad_2]
Source link