Thirty-eight people in the Republic of Congo have died in a suspected outbreak of the deadly ebola virus, the country’s health ministry said late on Tuesday.
Ebola has not yet been confirmed as the cause of the deaths in the villages of Kelle and Mbou, about 800 kilometres north of the capital Brazzaville. But the authorities suspect the virus because a nearby gorilla clan was wiped out in December by ebola and gorilla meat is a key part of the diet of people in the villages.
Ebola is a viral hemorraghic fever that causes massive bleeding. It is spread by contact with bodily fluids and there is no known cure. A year ago, 62 people died in a confirmed ebola outbreak in northern Congo and across the border in Gabon, according to the World Health Organisation.
In 1999, 170 people died in an ebola outbreak in northern Uganda and in 1995, the disease killed 265 in the town of Kikwit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then known as Zaire. – Sapa-DPA