DR Congo: Ebola Claims More Lives as Death Toll Hits 82

GOMA – Health officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo have said Ebola has so far killed 82 people since the new outbreak began on August 1, sparking concerns from medical experts that the deadly disease could further escalate.

Four more people died of Ebola on Monday, the World Health Organisation has said and there have been 122 cases reported since August. The four death cases happened in Butembo, a city of more than one million people in North Kivu, bordering Uganda.

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever which causes sudden fever,vomiting, diarrhea and internal and external bleeding.

North Kivu and Ituri provinces are the most hit by the deadly disease and presence of rebel groups including  Allied Democratic Forces in eastern DRC is making efforts to track or monitor the disease difficult.

Civil society groups in eastern DRC say more than 100 militias operate in the region.

This Ebola is the second epidemic of the illness in DRC this year, after the first Ebola outbreak in the northwest which left 33 people dead was declared over last month.

The country has begun using the experimental mAb114 Ebola treatment which authorities have described as successful and more than 3,400 people have been given the medicines.

The DRC has experienced 10 Ebola outbreaks since the virus was discovered in 1976, altogether killing some 900 people.