Suspected cases of Ebola rise to 18 in Congo

The number of suspected cases of Ebola has risen to 18 from nine in nearly a week in an isolated part of Democratic Republic of Congo, where three have died from the disease since April 22, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

The risk from the outbreak is “high at the national level,” the WHO said, because the disease was so severe and was spreading in a remote area in northeastern Congo with “suboptimal surveillance” and limited access to health care.

“Risk at the regional level is moderate due to the proximity of international borders and the recent influx of refugees from Central African Republic,” the organization said, but it nonetheless described the global risk as low because the area is so remote.

About a week ago, in addition to the nine suspected cases, 125 patients who had come into close contact with the disease were being monitored. Now, about 400 patients are being followed, and the two newest possible cases were reported Monday and Tuesday, according to the latest report on the WHO website.

The Ebola virus causes fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea, and it spreads easily by contact with bodily fluids. The death rate is high, often surpassing 50 per cent, particularly with the Zaire strain, which has been confirmed in two cases in this outbreak.

The outbreak was reported in a densely forested part of Bas-Uele province, near the border with the Central African Republic. Cases have occurred in four separate parts of a region called the Likati health zone.

Aid groups and the WHO have struggled to reach the affected area, which has no paved roads.

The WHO, aid groups and the Congolese government are discussing the possibility of using an experimental Ebola vaccine, made by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck.