Dozens of people have died in the latest Ebola outbreak that has spread across the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo with further fears more people could become infected
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global health alert following an outbreak in Africa – this is everything you need to know about the deadly disease.
Cases of Ebola have been found across the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring Uganda and WHO officials declared the incident a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. It comes amid a sharp rise in cases linked to the Bundibugyo strain of the virus with officials raising concerns about cross-border transmission, population displacement and ongoing conflict in eastern Congo that are increasing the risk of further spread.
There have been 246 suspected cases and more than 80 deaths that have been reported in Congo’s Ituri province, health authorities have said. Ugandan officials have also confirmed a fatal imported case from a Congolese patient who travelled to Kampala for treatment before dying from the illness.
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WHO chiefs said the outbreak met the threshold for coordinated international response. It also prompted the Africa CDC to warn of “active community transmission” amid health worker efforts to intensify screening and contact tracing in a bid to contain the disease.
Jean Marc Asimwe, a Bunia resident, told The Guardian: “Every day, people are dying…and this has been going on for about a week. In a single day, we bury two, three or even more people. At this point, we don’t really know what kind of disease it is.”
The current Ebola outbreak is the Congo’s 17th recorded incident since the virus was identified in the country back in 1976. The last outbreak ended in December last year.
The WHO, Africa CDC and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now coordinating support efforts that includes surveillance, laboratory testing as well as contact tracing and emergency response deployments. So far, the Congo and Uganda have active Ebola outbreaks.
Ebola symptoms
According to the NHS, Ebola symptoms can start between two and 21 days after being infected. They can appear suddenly and include flu-like symptoms, like a high temperature as well as extreme tiredness and a headache.
Scottish nurse and aid worker Pauline Cafferkey contracted Ebola in 2014 while she was working in Sierra Leone and managed to survive. Other symptoms include:
- being sick
- diarrhoea and tummy pain
- a skin rash
- yellowing of the skin and eyes
- blood in your poo
- lots of bruises all over your body
- bleeding from your ears, eyes, nose or mouth
- muscle pain
- sore throat
- blood in vomit or poo
- bleeding from nose, gums or vagina
