Ebola epidemic in DRC reached 6 thousand 436 cases and 3 thousand 95 deaths

According to the latest data shared by the DRC Ministry of Health, the number of confirmed cases in the epidemic, which affected 60 regions of 6 states in the country, reached 6 thousand 436.

While the number of people who lost their lives in the epidemic reached 3 thousand 95, the death rate was updated to 48.1 percent.

While Ituri province remains the main center of the epidemic, no new confirmed cases have been recorded in South Kivu for 95 days.

EBOLA OUTBREAK IN AFRICA

The Ebola virus, which causes a type of hemorrhagic fever, first appeared in 1976 with simultaneous epidemics in Nzara, Sudan, and Yambuku, DRC.

Since the epidemic in the DRC started in a village near the Ebola River, the disease was named after this river.

The Ebola virus spread in West Africa in December 2013. In the epidemic seen in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone between 2014 and 2017, 30 thousand people were infected with the virus and more than 11 thousand of the patients died.

An epidemic was declared in the country on May 15, following 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths announced in Ituri province in the east of the DRC.

According to health officials, there is no approved treatment or vaccine for the "Bundibugyo" Ebola variant that broke out in May.