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KINSHASA, Sept 13 (Reuters) – An outbreak of the deadly
Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo risks spreading
to major towns if not brought under control soon after the death
toll doubled within a week, the World Health Organisation warned
on Thursday.
The number of people killed by the contagious virus for
which there is no known treatment has now risen to 31, including
five health workers. Ebola causes massive bleeding and kills up
to 90 percent of its victims.
“The epidemic is not under control. On the contrary the
situation is very, very serious,” Eugene Kabambi, a WHO
spokesman in Congo’s capital Kinshasa, told Reuters by phone.
“If nothing is done now, the disease will reach other
places, and even major towns will be threatened,” he said,
adding that an estimated $2 million had to be urgently found to
pay for measures to tackle the disease.
The outbreak, which is believed to have been caused by
tainted bushmeat hunted by local villagers, has so far struck in
the towns of Isiro and Viadana in the northeastern province of
Orientale.
Some 16 people in neighbouring Uganda died of the disease
last month, though the WHO said the two epidemics were not
connected.
The latest WHO figures show there are now 65 probable or
suspected cases of Ebola in Congo, with 108 people under
surveillance.
Kabambi said one suspected case in Kinshasa had come back
negative. Congo’s ramshackle capital is home to at least 9
million people and its health sector is crumbling.
Congo’s infrastructure has been devastated by decades of
corruption, conflict and misrule. The country last year came
bottom of a United Nations development index.
(Reporting by Jonny Hogg; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing
by Andrew Osborn)
