The Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed a new case of Ebola virus in the country’s eastern province of North Kivu.
Congo's health authorities revealed this on Tuesday following the death of a 46-year-old woman who died of the disease on the 15 August, 2022 in Beni, a town located in Kivu.
The late unidentified woman received care at the Beni Referral Hospital, initially for other ailments, but subsequently exhibited symptoms consistent with Ebola virus disease.
Both the Beni and Goma branches of the country’s National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) confirmed Ebola virus in samples taken from the patient.
Also, analyses showed that the case was genetically linked to the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces – the country’s longest and largest.
Reports have it that WHO staff and health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are working to stem the spread of the disease, having identified 160 contacts whose health is being closely monitored. Investigations are ongoing to determine the vaccination status of the confirmed case.
Speaking on the resurgence, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said “Ebola resurgences are occurring with greater frequency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, health authorities in North Kivu have
successfully stopped several Ebola flare-ups and building on this expertise will no doubt bring this one under control quickly.”
He noted that there are 1000 doses of the Rvsv-ZEBOV Ebola vaccines available in the country’s stockpile, 200 of which will be sent to Beni this week. Ring-vaccination – where contact and contacts of contacts are vaccinated to curb the spread of the virus and protect lives – is expected to begin shortly.
The last flare-up in North Kivu’s Beni health zone was brought under control in about two months, ending on 16 December 2021. There were 11 cases (eight confirmed, three probable), including six deaths.
