Congo reports Ebola death in new province, official says
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The ongoing Ebola outbreak, Congo’s 17th, has so far infected 4,566 people, including 2,128 deaths, according to government data released on Aug 12.
PHOTO: AFP
- A motorcycle taxi driver died of Ebola in Bas-Uele province, where no cases had been reported before, raising concerns about wider transmission.
- The patient had travelled from Haut-Uele, an already affected province with 113 confirmed cases, and visited several health facilities before dying.
- Congo's ongoing Ebola outbreak is the second-largest ever, with 4,566 infections and 2,128 deaths, highlighting serious public health risks and challenges.
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DAKAR – Democratic Republic of Congo health authorities have identified a person who has died from Ebola in a province not previously affected by the ongoing outbreak, an official told Reuters, raising fears of wider transmission from multiple exposures before and after the patient’s death.
The case involves a motorcycle taxi driver who travelled to Bas-Uele province, where no cases had previously been reported, from Haut-Uele province, where cases had already been confirmed, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, head of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, told Reuters.
The patient died in Bas-Uele’s capital Buta after developing haemorrhagic symptoms consistent with Ebola and tested positive for the virus after he died, Muyembe said.
Haut-Uele, one of five provinces affected by the outbreak, which was announced on May 15, has recorded 113 confirmed cases, according to the latest available government data published on Aug 11.
Bas-Uele would not be added to the list of affected provinces until there is a case involving local transmission.
But Muyembe said the motorcycle taxi driver visited several health facilities before his death, and fellow motorcycle taxi drivers tried to retrieve his body, prompting the local police to intervene, raising fears that several people may have been infected.
The ongoing Ebola outbreak, Congo’s 17th, has so far infected 4,566 people, including 2,128 deaths, according to government data released on Aug 12.
The number of cases makes it the second-largest outbreak on record, behind the outbreak in West Africa that lasted from 2014 to 2016. REUTERS
