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03/28/2024 06:13:37 pm

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Congo Confirms Ebola Cases In The Country, But Strains Different From Usual

Monrovia residents

(Photo : REUTERS/2Tango) Residents, who are in an Ebola quarantine area, complain to a security officer as they wait for their relatives to bring them food and essentials, in West Point, Monrovia August 23, 2014.

The Democratic Republic of Congo reported that the Ebola virus is now in their nation, but it is believed to be another strain unconnected to the outbreak in the four West African countries. Two people died and several cases are in their hands, according to reports.

Felix Kabange Numbi, health minister of Congo said on Sunday that the government tested eight samples of the fever. Two tested positive for Ebola.

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Furthermore, the results suggested that Ebola cases in Congo contained the Sudanese strain. The outbreak in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria was caused by the most lethal form of Ebola, the Zaire strain, according to experts.

However, one of the two Ebola samples was said to have both the Sudanese and Zaire strains, which baffled the scientists.

According to reports, a hemorrhagic fever broke out in Equateur province recently and 13 people died. People suspected Ebola, but the World Health Organization insisted otherwise.

A WHO representative admitted on Sunday that its previous statement was based on premature data. They are conducting further tests to determine connection with the outbreak in West Africa and results could be released by Monday.

Dr. Numbi said a quarantine zone 100 kilometers around the site in Equateur was being set up to control the disease.

He added that this is the seventh outbreak in the country since 1976 when Ebola was first identified near the Ebola River.

Meanwhile, the first Briton to contract the virus, a health worker in Sierra Leone, was carried by an RAF jet back to UK on Sunday.

About 2,615 people have contracted Ebola in West Africa since March and 1,427 people died.

There is no known cure, but the experimental drug ZMapp seemed to have been effective for two U.S. aid workers who took it. ZMapp supply is now exhausted and two to three months are needed to produce another supply.

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