The Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed a new case of the Ebola virus, according to the country’s health officials.
The new case was reported in Mbandaka, a city in Equateur Province’s northwestern region. This is the province’s third outbreak since 2018.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa, the 31-year-old patient began showing symptoms of the condition on April 5 after spending more than a week at home.
The patient, however, was admitted to an Ebola treatment center for intensive care on April 21. Later that day, he died, forcing health professionals to begin submitting samples for Ebola virus testing right away.
Since 1976, the country has experienced fourteen Ebola outbreaks.
The current one is the sixth since the beginning of 2018. In Equateur Province, previous outbreaks occurred in 2020 and 2018, with 130 and 54 cases reported, respectively.
Efforts to stop the spread of the disease, such as immunization, are being stepped up. Vaccines will be delivered to Mbandaka and distributed using the “ring vaccination approach.”
Ebola is a hemorrhagic illness caused by a virus that was originally discovered in 1976 in Central Africa. The disease was called after the Zaire River in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Human transmission occurs by bodily fluids, with fever, vomiting, bleeding, and diarrhoea being the most common symptoms.
