What to know about new Ebola outbreak that has killed 65 people in Congo

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Africa’s top public health body has confirmed a new Ebola outbreak in Congo’s Ituri province.

A total of 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths have already been recorded in the new outbreak, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on Friday.

Here’s what to know about the health crisis:

The suspected Ebola cases have mainly been recorded in Ituri's Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones. Suspected cases have also been reported in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province.

So far, only four of the deaths reported are laboratory-confirmed cases, but the new outbreak was confirmed after many suspected cases.

Ituri is in a remote eastern part of Congo with poor road networks, and is more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the nation’s capital, Kinshasa.

One major concern, the Africa CDC said, is the proximity of affected areas to Uganda and South Sudan. Bunia, Ituri's main city, is near the border with Uganda.

The agency said there's also risk of further spread due to intense population movement, mining-related movements as well the security crises in affected areas. Attacks by armed groups have killed dozens and displaced thousands in parts of Ituri province in the past year.

There are also gaps in contact listing, the Africa CDC said, as local authorities race to find those who might have been exposed to the virus.

The Africa CDC said it's already working with national authorities and partners to support a “rapid, coordinated response.”

It has convened an urgent high-level coordination meeting Friday with health authorities from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, together with key partners including U.N. agencies and other countries.

The meeting, the agency said, will focus on immediate response priorities, cross-border coordination, surveillance, safe and dignified burials and resource mobilization, among other areas.

Dr. Gabriel Nsakala, a professor of public health who has been involved in past Ebola outbreak responses in Congo, said Congo and health workers on the ground have a high level of experience from past outbreaks, in addition to existing infrastructure such as laboratories. "Now, the expertise and equipment need to be delivered quickly,” Nsakala added.

Congo is Africa’s second-largest country by land area and often faces logistical challenges in responding to disease outbreaks due to bad roads and distances.

During last year’s outbreak, which lasted three months, the World Health Organization initially faced significant challenges in delivering vaccines, which took a week after the outbreak was confirmed.

Funding has also been problematic. During last year's outbreak, health officials were concerned about the impact of recent U.S. funding cuts.

The U.S. had supported the response to Congo’s past Ebola outbreaks, including in 2021 when the U.S. Agency for International Development provided up to $11.5 million to support efforts across Africa.

The latest outbreak is Congo’s 17th since the disease first emerged in the country in 1976.

It comes around five months after Congo’s last Ebola outbreak was declared over in December after 43 deaths. Before then, the last outbreak, in the northeastern Equateur province in 2022, killed six people.

An Ebola outbreak from 2018 to 2020 in eastern Congo killed more than 1,000 people, the most deaths after the 2014-2016 outbreak in the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia that killed more than 11,000 people.

The Ebola virus is highly contagious and can be transmitted to people from wild animals. It then spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing contaminated with these fluids.

The disease it causes is a rare but severe — and often fatal — illness in people. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.

The virus was first discovered in 1976, near the Ebola River in what is now Congo. The first outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rainforests.