The Democratic Republic of Congo declared a new outbreak of Ebola on Tuesday, two years after the worst outbreak in history in West Africa ended.
Over the past five weeks the country has seen 21 suspected cases and 17 deaths. Laboratory results confirmed that two of the cases were Ebola, a disease that killed more than 11,000 people from 2014 to 2016 in West Africa.
The 2014 outbreak was mainly concentrated in three West African countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. One person died in the U.S. and several other people contracted the disease either by traveling to West Africa or performing their duties as a healthcare worker.
The World Health Organization said in a release Monday that it is scaling up its operations and response to the outbreak.
Congo had its own outbreak of Ebola in 2017 in the northern part of the country, but it was quickly contained, WHO said.
“An effective response to the 2017 [Ebola] outbreak was achieved through the timely alert by local authorities of suspect cases, immediate testing of blood samples due to strengthened national laboratory capacity, the early announcement of the outbreak by the government, rapid response activities by local and national health authorities with the robust support of international partners, and speedy access to flexible funding,” WHO said.
The Ebola virus is often fatal if it isn’t treated. The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals, and humans can spread it through contact, WHO said.
