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Ebola Outbreak Confirmed in Eastern DRC

by VOA News

   Four cases of the Ebola virus have been confirmed in the northeastern
   Democratic Republic of the Congo, officials confirmed Wednesday.

   Julien Paluku, governor of North Kivu province, announced the outbreak
   on Twitter, just a week after Congolese and U.N. health officials
   announced the end of a separate outbreak that killed 33 people in the
   country's northwest.

   "Ebola VIRUS confirmed in North Kivu province," Paluku wrote on
   Twitter. "I call for calm and prudence."

   Officials have said they now feel better prepared for Ebola outbreaks,
   in sharp contrast to the 2014 epidemic of the virus, which killed more
   than 11,000 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
   To contain the most recent outbreak, health workers distributed an
   experimental but effective vaccine to anyone who had come into contact
   with those infected.
   "We had a vaccine -- and that I think is going to be extremely
   important for the future of Ebola control," Peter Salama, deputy
   director-general of emergency preparedness and response at the World
   Health Organization, told CNN of the July outbreak.

   There is no evidence yet suggesting the two outbreaks in the Congo are
   linked.