GENEVA: A deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has a clear "potential to expand", the World Health Organization warned Wednesday, saying it aimed to vaccinate 10,000 people within a month. Ebola, a virus-caused haemorrhagic fever that spreads through contact with bodily fluids, is both highly infectious and extremely lethal. The current outbreak, which was officially declared on May 8, began in rural northwestern DRC in a remote location called Bikoro. "An urban case means that it can spread quickly," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told Wednesday's session during the agency's annual World Health Assembly. Only by finding every single Ebola case, and mapping and following every one of their contacts, and ensuring that the sick are isolated, can the epidemic be brought to halt, he said.

Source: Bangkok Post May 23, 2018 15:56 UTC