Ebola is Back!

Pat Stevens/

Ebola has killed two people in the Democratic Republic of Congo amid a fresh resurgence of the deadly virus.

The first victim was a 31-year-old man from Mbandaka in the Equater province who died from the killer virus on April 21. His 25-year-old sister-in-law is the second victim of the outbreak, which began two weeks.

No-one else has tested positive so far but doctors are monitoring 145 people who came into contact with the two confirmed cases, MailOnline reported.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) regional director for Africa, said, “Time is not on our side.”

Speaking after the first death, Dr Moeti said “the disease has had a two-week head start and we are now playing catch-up.” 

Genetic testing showed the 31-year-old man’s infection was a new “spillover event” — transmission from an infected animal, such as bats, porcupines or primates.

It is not linked to any previous outbreaks, according to the DRC’s National Institute of Biomedical Research.

He began showing symptoms on April 5, but did not seek treatment for more than a week. The man had also reportedly been vaccinated against Ebola before.

His sister-in-law began experiencing symptoms 12 days before she died. 

Congo has seen 13 previous outbreaks of Ebola, including one in 2018-2020 in the east that killed nearly 2,300 people, the second highest toll recorded in the history of the haemorrhagic fever.

The most recent outbreak ended in December in the east after six deaths. 

Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur province, has also contended with two previous outbreaks.

The country’s equatorial forests are a natural reservoir for the Ebola virus, which was discovered near the Ebola River in northern Congo in 1976.

Ebola kills around half of people it infects, and the mortality rate has been as high as 90 percent during some surges. 

The virus spreads very easily and can quickly tear through populations. Contact with bodily fluids of a person sick with the virus can quickly cause infection, and the virus can also contaminate surfaces to transmit the virus.

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