‘Game-changer’ in Congo

Health workers don protective clothing as they prepare to attend to possible Ebola patients in the isolation ward at Bikoro Hospital in Bikoro, Congo. The hospital is in a rural area of the country, but Ebola is now believed to have spread to a large city.

the national or international community,” Salama said. But “urban Ebola can result in an exponential increase in cases in a way that rural Ebola struggles to do.”

Mbandaka, a city of almost 1.2 million, is in a busy travel corridor in Congo’s northwest Equateur province and is upstream from the capital, Kinshasa, a city of about 10 million. It is an hour’s plane ride from Kinshasa or a four- to seven-day trip by river barge.

Salama also noted Mbandaka’s proximity to neighboring countries, including Central African

Republic and Republic of Congo.

There is no specific treatment for Ebola. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding. The virus can be fatal in up to 90 percent of cases, depending on the strain.

But those newly exposed will, for the first time in Congo, receive Ebola vaccinations, the health minister said. The WHO has sent 4,000 doses of the experimental vaccine to Congo and said it will dispatch thousands more in the coming days as needed.

The vaccine has been shown to be highly effective against Ebola. It was tested in Guinea during the outbreak that killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa from 2014 to 2016.

This is the ninth Ebola outbreak in Congo since 1976, when the disease was first identified. The virus is initially transmitted to people from wild animals, including bats and monkeys.

The aid organization said 514 people believed to have been in contact with infected people are being monitored. WHO said it is deploying about 30 more experts to the city.