“This is a major, major game-changer in the outbreak,” Dr. Peter Salama, the World Health Organization’s deputy director-general of emergency preparedness and response, warned on Thursday. The city is about 150 kilometres (93 miles) from Bikoro, the rural area where the outbreak was announced last week. Until now, the outbreak was confined to remote rural areas, where Ebola, which is spread by bodily fluids, travels more slowly. Those exposed will for the first time in Congo receive Ebola vaccinations, the health minister said. This is the ninth Ebola outbreak in Congo since 1976, when the disease was first identified.

Source: National Post May 17, 2018 09:11 UTC