Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo

During an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019: Helpers in special protective clothing come to work at an Ebola treatment centre. Image: dpa

Months later, the Central African country recorded another case of Ebola. The patient died on Thursday, the WHO said. Doctors are now in a race against time to contain the virus.

Four months after the last known outbreak of Ebola fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African country has reported a new case of infection. The patient showed his first symptoms on April 5, but did not receive treatment until more than a week later and died on April 21, the World Health Organization said. As the National Institute for Biomedical Research and the Ministry of Health announced on Saturday, he was a 31-year-old man from the northwestern city of Mbandaka.

Doctors now find themselves in a race to contain the virus. “Time is against us,” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “The illness was two weeks early.” A vaccination campaign should start in the next few days.

It is the 14th outbreak in the Central African country since the virus was first detected near the Ebola River in 1976. Just one outbreak in 2018 to 2020 killed nearly 2,300 people. In the most recent outbreak, six out of a total of eleven infected people died from October to December last year. The Ebola pathogen causes fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea and is spread through contact with bodily fluids.