10 Dead from Ebola Outbreak in Congo
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Hemera/Thinkstock(ISIRO, Congo) — Doctors Without Borders is working to contain an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ten people have died after contracting the disease, and another six people in the town of Isiro have been either confirmed or considered probable cases, BBC News reports. One person, according to South African newspaper The New Age, has made a full recovery.
Officials say this strain of the deadly disease is not related to the recent outbreak in neighboring Uganda, where 16 people died from a strain that now seems to have been contained.
“The outbreak in Uganda and the one in DRC are not related,” Olimpia de la Rosa, a Doctors Without Borders coordinator, told The New Age. “This strengthens the idea that the Ebola virus is transmitted by close contact, making it less likely to cross borders.”
Ebola outbreaks occur periodically in central Africa, where the virus originated and was first detected in humans in 1976.
Symptoms of Ebola include sudden fever, weakness, headache, vomiting and kidney problems, BBC News reports. There is no vaccine to reduce risk of infection.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio