The woman was found with symptoms of the virus in the city of Biena, near the city of Butembo, on February 1, and died in hospital on February 3. She was married to a man who had contracted the virus in a previous outbreak.
“The provincial response team is already working hard. It will be supported by the national response team that will visit Butembo soon,” the ministry said in a statement.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which is helping with response efforts, says it has tracked more than 70 women’s contacts. The places she visited are also being disinfected.
It is not yet clear whether this case marks the beginning of a new outbreak or whether it is a manageable outbreak of the last. Samples of the woman were sent to the capital, Kinshasa, to confirm the link to the previous outbreak.
“It is not uncommon for sporadic cases to occur after a major outbreak,” the WHO said in a statement. He added that WHO epidemiologists are investigating, but that emergency response efforts have been hampered by continued insecurity in the region.
The emergence of more cases could complicate efforts to eradicate Covid-19, which has infected 23,600 people and killed 681 in the DRC. The coronavirus vaccination campaign is scheduled to start in the first half of this year.
However, an Ebola vaccine and a well-trained health system means that the country is in a better position than ever to deal with outbreaks, even in urban settings. Ebola has a much higher mortality rate than Covid-19, but, unlike coronavirus, it is not transmitted by asymptomatic carriers. And the lessons learned from fighting these multiple outbreaks have helped efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, experts say.
A recurring problem
Ebola virus disease can cause fever, headache, muscle pain, vomiting and diarrhea, among other symptoms. It is transmitted by contact with infected animals or with the body fluids of infected people.
The DRC’s equatorial forests have been a breeding ground for Ebola. The disease killed almost 2,300 people between 2018 and 2020, the second largest Ebola outbreak on record in the world.
The country has had 11 outbreaks since the virus was first discovered near the Ebola River in DRC in 1976 – more than double that of any other country.
In addition, the continuing violence of militias in the Northeast, including attacks on health centers, claimed the lives of residents and health professionals. Nearly a million people were forced to leave their homes in 2019 alone, the UN agency said, making access to medical care and prevention even more difficult