The World Health Organization on Friday announced that a doctor has contracted the deadly Ebola virus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The doctor living in North Kivu has now been hospitalised with Ebola symptoms. His wife contracted the disease when she traveled to the nearby city of Beni.
It is a situation the WHO says it had dreaded since the latest outbreak which has so far killed 63 people.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already said that the ongoing militia violence is threatening the fight against the outbreak.
It says militia violence has prevented aid workers from reaching people who may have been infected by the virus.
Currently experimental mAb114 Ebola treatment is being used for the first time as the deadly virus continues to spread.
Over 1, 103 confirmed and probable cases of Ebola have been identified in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, according to the health ministry.
LIVE from @UNGeneva: The latest updates on the #Rohingya situation in Bangladesh and #Ebola in DRC with @PeteSalama https://t.co/L4CZKS9q5X
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) August 24, 2018
Dr. Peter Salama who is the World Health Organization’s head of emergency operations told the media “So for the first time really we have a confirmed case and contacts in an area of very high insecurity.
It really was the problem we were anticipating and the problem at same time that we were dreading.”
The virus which is transmitted by bats was first discovered in DRC in 1976 and named after the Ebola river. Ebola leads to internal and external bleeding which can cause damage done to blood vessels.
Source: Africafeeds.com
