Two cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the north-western town of Bikoro in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A health official in the country, Jean Jack Muyembe, who works for the institute for biological research, said there are at least 10 other suspected cases.
The latest cases come less than a year after the last outbreak killed four out of eight people it had infected. The Ebola virus is believed to be spread over long distances by bats, which can host the virus without dying, as it infects other animals it shares trees with such as monkeys.
It often spreads to humans via contaminated bush meat. Infected people suffer from fever, diarrhoea and vomiting. It also had a high death rate.
Reports say it’s the ninth time Ebola has been recorded in the DR Congo, whose eastern Ebola river gave the deadly virus its name when it was discovered there in the 1970s.
At least 11,315 people died following the 2014 outbreak in six countries across the world, in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the US and Mali.
