KINSHASA: Seventeen people in north-west Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have died from Ebola, the health ministry said on Tuesday, describing the fresh outbreak as a “public health emergency with international impact.” “Twenty-one cases of fever with haemorrhagic indications and 17 deaths” have been recorded in Equateur province, it said, citing a notification to the ministry as of May 3.

It is the DRC’s ninth known outbreak of Ebola since 1976, when the deadly viral disease was first identified in then-Zaire by a Belgian-led team.

In Geneva, the WHO said lab tests in the DRC confirmed the presence of Ebola virus in two out of five samples collected from patients. The outbreak occurred in Bikoro, on the shores of Lake Tumba.

Ebola is one of the world’s most notorious diseases, being both highly infectious and extremely lethal. The worst-ever Ebola outbreak started in December 2013 in southern Guinea before spreading to African countries, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2018