Sawt Falasteen - DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreads to 7th province

The Democratic Republic of Congo officially detected the latest outbreak in mid-May, its 17th of the highly infectious virus that has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the last 50 years.

The current outbreak in the DRC has killed 3,310 people out of 6,843 confirmed cases, according to the latest figures from the Congolese authorities.

It began in northeastern Ituri province and spread to conflict-plagued, remote eastern and northern regions where armed groups have roamed for decades, the presence of the state is weak and health infrastructure is largely lacking.

The South-Ubangi governor's office in a statement sent to AFP on Friday officially declared an outbreak of the virus in the northwestern province following analysis of a suspected case.

An Ebola patient died there after undertaking a long journey across several provinces, some of which have not so far had cases of the disease, acting governor Jean-Rene Galekwa told reporters on Thursday.

The patient who died in South-Ubangi had developed symptoms in the capital of Tshopo province, Kisangani, where Ebola cases have been reported, after having travelled to Rwanda, then Uganda and Ituri province, Galekwa said.

He then went by boat on the Congo River to Lisala in Mongala province where he spent two days in a health centre before being transferred to another hospital in Gwaka, in South-Ubangi, he added.

- Fears of spread -

"The route taken both by the patient and by the boat exposes the population" of the provinces of North-Ubangi, Tshopo and Mongala, Galekwa said.

"Thirty-eight people have been identified as having been in contact with the patient and have been placed in quarantine," he said.

Ebola is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids and can cause severe internal and external bleeding and organ failure.

The organisations that have been tackling the outbreak say the funding is largely insufficient to monitor and isolate cases in the sprawling central African country.

The World Health Organization said this week it needed 5,000 extra health workers to help respond to the virus.

It said it had nearly 1,400 beds across 59 treatment centres but that it estimated it needed another 1,600 beds.

The current epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment. Several treatments and vaccines are being tested.

K.Hassan--SF-PST