Brazzaville, May 17: Ebola has spread to an urban area of Congo. As per Associate Press, Congo’s health minister has confirmed that Ebola has spread to the capital of Equateur province. The health minister expresses concern about the new outbreak in the northwest. According to the report, Health minister Oly Ilunga late on Wednesday said that two suspected cases of haemorrhagic fever were reported in the Wangata health zones, which includes Mbandaka city, about 150 kilometres (93 miles) from Bikoro, the rural area where the outbreak began.

The minister has confirmed that three case of Ebola have been detected so far in the urban area. According to Ilunga, one sample proved positive for the deadly Ebola virus, bringing to three the number of confirmed Ebola cases in three health zones. As per the report, epidemiologists are working to identify additional contacts to the 500 already identified. Till now, Congo has reported 23 deaths among the 42 suspected, probable and confirmed cases.

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) is a rare and deadly disease in people and nonhuman primates. The viruses that cause EVD are located mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. People can get EVD through direct contact with an infected animal (bat or nonhuman primate) or a sick or dead person infected with Ebola virus. Vaccine for curing Ebola has not been discovered yet. Scientists are doing research on EVD to find the virus’ natural host so that vaccines could be developed.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 17, 2018 04:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).