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Democratic Republic of Congo confirms third Ebola case in North Kivu province

FISTON MAHAMBA

THE Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed a third Ebola case this week in North Kivu province, provincial health minister Eugene Nzanzu Salita said yesterday.

The case was found in Butembo, a city of over 1 million people and the epicentre of a major outbreak of the disease that was declared over last June after nearly two years.

“We are in a meeting to gather all the information on the investigations done around this case,” said Salita.

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Congo’s health ministry announced a resurgence of the disease on February 7, after a woman contracted Ebola and died. She was married to a survivor of the previous outbreak.

On Friday, 1,200 doses of Ebola vaccine and cold chain equipment arrived in Butembo, the health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement.

Health workers are training vaccinators and tracing more than 100 contacts in the districts of Biena and Katwa, the statement said.

A new outbreak would be Congo’s 12th since the virus was first discovered near the Ebola river in 1976.

The Ebola virus causes severe vomiting and diarrhoea and is spread through contact with body fluids.

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By The African Mirror

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