The Democratic Republic of Congo
raised its death toll from the Ebola virus to 42 on Wednesday as it
struggled to contain the second outbreak of the disease in Africa this
year.
The latest figures include eight health workers, Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi said in a message sent to AFP.
Some
70 cases of the deadly virus have been confirmed in a remote region
near the town of Boende some 800 kilometres (500 miles) northwest of
Kinshasa, with a mortality rate of around 60 percent.
According
to the World Health Organization and the authorities in Kinshasa, the
outbreak is not related to the worst ever epidemic of the virus which
has killed more than 3,000 people in west Africa this year.
A
month ago, the government said 32 people had been killed in the
outbreak, the seventh Ebola outbreak since the disease was first
identified in the former Zaire in 1976.
The
last case in DR Congo, which has an incubation period of three weeks,
was confirmed on 24 September, said the minister. Last month, Congolese
authorities had declared the outbreak was "on its way to being
controlled".
SOURCE: YAHOO
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