Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Boende (Agenzia Fides) - Ebola epidemic which broke out in early August in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is now under control. No new cases have been registered since October 4 in Boende.
According to World Health Organization, Congo's outbreak killed 49 of the 66 people infected in the remote northwestern Equateur. Forty-two days is the internationally-accepted period for declaring Ebola over without recording a new case of the disease.
According to a statement sent to Agenzia Fides by the NGO Medici Senza Frontiere (MSF) states that Ebola outbreaks are usually declared over when two full cycles of the virus' 21 day incubation period finish without further infections. In Congo, MSF has been working with local authorities to maintain an operating treatment center in Equateur province.
Ebola was first detected in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Contrary to West Africa, what is happening in the DRC is what experts consider to be a classic outbreak of Ebola, the seventh in the Country, located in a remote area, far from the towns. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 19/11/2014)
