New cases of Ebola confirmed in DR Congo

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed six new cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, already Africa’s country to be worst-hit by the virus.

The reports are the first on record for the year 2020.

The International Travel & Health Insurance Journal (ITIJ) says the cases have been cited in the North Kivu Province in the eastern part of the country.

Five of the cases are said to have epidemiological links.

The WHO says there have been 3,428 confirmed cases and 2,250 deaths between August 2018 and February 2, 2020. In the same period too, 283,117 people have been vaccinated with the rVSV-ZEBOVGP Ebola vaccine.

Last year, the WHO announced a vaccine that could cure Ebola symptoms in hours.

The drug was developed by Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, head of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research along with his team of researchers.

The WHO then dropped two other treatments, called ZMapp and Remdesivir, which were used during the massive Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. It is often transmitted from animals to people, and then from people to people by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids or organs, or indirectly through contact with contaminated areas.

Formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, the disease is named after Ebola River in DRC. It was first discovered in 1976.

According to the WHO, the incubation period of the disease is between two and 21 days. Some of the first symptoms include fever fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. 

The other symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.