Tuesday, 15/05/2018 16:00 (GMT+7)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is preparing to deploy 4,000 doses of Ebola vaccine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to control the outbreak.
(Source: AFP/VNA)
“We’re working on the deployment of these materials, especially readying the cold chain,” WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti said. “The start date of the vaccinations will depend on this deployment.”
In Congo, vaccines will also be administered to local and international health care workers and front-line workers in both affected areas as well as the regions expected to be at risk should the outbreak continue to spread.
DRC’s Minister of Health Oly Ilunga on May 10th announced the first confirmed death in a new outbreak of Ebola virus, and said 11 other people were confirmed to be infected.
This is the ninth time Ebola has been recorded in the DRC.
The first reported case of Ebola occurred in the DRC in 1976 in an outbreak that killed at least 280 people.
The worst Ebola epidemic ended in West Africa two years ago, after killing more than 11,300 people and infecting about 28,600 across Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Ebola, one of the deadliest viruses known to man, is spread through direct contact, and it can also be transmitted through sexual contact or unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
There is no specific treatment for Ebola, which is spread through the bodily fluids of people exhibiting symptoms./.
Compiled by BTA