Health professionals are preparing to inoculate people with suspected Ebola to take precautions against the disease in Butembo, Democratic Republic of Congo, on July 27, 2019.
JC Wenga | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The World Health Organization warned on Monday of a potential resurgence of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a woman died of the disease.
The woman lived in Butembo, a town in North Kivu province and the epicenter of a previous Ebola outbreak that was declared closed in June, according to the DRC Ministry of Health.
More than 70 people who came into direct contact with the woman while she was contagious have already been identified, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva.
“So far, no other cases have been identified,” said Tedros. “But it is possible that there are more cases because the woman had contact with many people after she became symptomatic.”
Unlike the highly infectious coronavirus, which can be transmitted by people who have no symptoms, Ebola is believed to spread mainly to people who are already visibly sick. The virus spreads through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of people who are sick or have died of the disease, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The virus can also spread through the semen of men who have recovered from the disease, says the CDC. The woman who recently died in Butembo was married to an Ebola survivor, the WHO said.
Ebola has an average lethality rate of 50%, although it may vary according to the outbreak, according to the WHO.
The DRC’s National Institute of Biomedical Research is sequencing samples of the virus at its main laboratory in Kinshasa, the country’s capital, to determine whether the woman’s recent death was associated with the previous Butembo outbreak, the WHO said.
The declared Ebola outbreak that ended in June lasted almost two years. It was the second largest in the world and, when it ended, there were 3,481 cases in total and 2,299 deaths, according to WHO.
WHO noted that outbreak response efforts in North Kivu province have been especially difficult because of the ongoing violent conflicts in the area, which is occupied by more than 100 different armed groups, according to Human Rights Watch.
The WHO has sent a rapid response team to Butembo, Tedros added, and doses of the vaccine are on the way. The WHO claims that there are currently two licensed Ebola vaccines. Tedros did not say which is on the way to the area.
“Thanks to the huge capacity built during the last outbreak, provincial health officials have significant experience in responding to Ebola and in preventing progressive transmission,” said Tedros on Monday. “We hope that vaccination starts as soon as possible.”