At Least 17 Dead Amid Confirmed Ebola Outbreak in DRC

At least 17 deaths have been reported amid a confirmed Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Reuters. “Our country is facing another epidemic of the Ebola virus, which constitutes an international public health emergency,” the country’s health ministry said in a statement. “We still dispose of the well trained human resources that were able to rapidly control previous epidemics.” At least 21 people showed signs of hemorrhagic fever near the town of Bikoro in the northwestern region of the country. Seventeen of those patients later died. This is the ninth time that the country has been hit with the Ebola disease, named after the DRC’s eastern Ebola river. Ebola is thought to travel through bats and other animals, and caught by humans via “infected bushmeat.” The last Ebola outbreak killed 11,300 people throughout West Africa.