First death from fresh outbreak of ebola confirmed in Congo

The first death from a new outbreak of ebola in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been confirmed along with 11 other cases of people taken ill with the virus.

Seven people with the haemorrhagic fever were in hospital in Bikoro yesterday, said health minister Oly Ilunga.

He said four new cases and one death have also been reported in the town of Ikoko Impenge, and that three nurses are among those infected.

Mr Ilunga said 17 deaths that drew the attention of health officials over the weekend to the region had not yet been confirmed as resulting from ebola.

He said the situation calls for an immediate and energetic response.

The World Health Organisation and officials from other international health groups are in the area to help contain the spread of the deadly virus.

“After contact, the nurses began showing signs... We have isolated them,” Serge Ngaleto, the director of Bikoro’s main hospital, told Reuters by phone.

Congo’s long experience of ebola and its remote geography mean outbreaks are often localized and relatively easy to isolate.

But Ikoko Impenge and Bikoro are situated not far from the banks of the Congo River, a major artery for trade and transport upstream from the capital Kinshasa.

The Congo Republic is just on the other side of the river.

A spokesman for the director of epidemiology in Congo Republic said government experts would meet to discuss measures to prevent it crossing the border.

Nigeria’s immigration service said yesterday it had increased screening tests at airports and other entry points as a precautionary measure.

Similar measures helped it contain the virus during the West African epidemic that began in 2013.

Officials in Guinea and Gambia both said they had heightened screening measures along their

“After contact, the nurses began showing signs... We have isolated them.

HOSPITAL DIRECTOR SERGE NGALETO

borders to prevent the spread.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s health ministry said it had dispatched a team of 12 experts to the north-west to try to trace new contacts of the disease, identify the epicentre and all affected villages and provide resources.

Ebola is most feared for the internal and external bleeding it can cause in its victims owing to damage done to blood vessels.