The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has entered a “new phase” after a case was confirmed in a city of 1.2 million people amid fears that infections could rapidly spread, Al Jazeera reports.
A victim of the deadly virus was identified in the northwestern city of Mbandaka, 150km from a rural area where the outbreak was first detected earlier this month, DRC’s Health Minister Oly Ilunga said on Thursday.
The outbreak previously appeared to be confined to the Ikoko Impenge area, near the town of Bikoro, in the central African nation’s Equateur Province.
“We are entering a new phase of the Ebola outbreak that is now affecting three health zones, including an urban health zone,” Ilunga said in a statement.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, 23 deaths in the DRC in recent weeks were linked to Ebola, which has no proven cure.
The latest case takes the number of confirmed Ebola cases in the DRC to three, one of whom died since an outbreak of the virus was identified by the health ministry on May 8.
“We expect an increase in the number of cases confirmed in the coming days and weeks, so we are stepping up our intervention efforts because medical teams on the ground will need more support and capacity and increased access to medicines and equipment,” health ministry spokeswoman Jessica Ilunga told Al Jazeera.
Another 21 people have been, or continue to be, held in quarantine because they are suspected to have contracted the virus, Ilunga added, though medical tests have yet to confirm Ebola infection.
Results on the cases are expected within 24 hours, Ilunga said.
WHO, which has been coordinating with the DRC’s health ministry in an attempt to combat the outbreak, said it will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to consider the possible international risks posed by Ebola.
Health officials said the newest case was worrying.
“This is a significant development because it’s harder to control an outbreak in an urban setting because there are many more prospects for contact than in a rural area,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told Al Jazeera.
An infected person is estimated to have between 100-150 “contacts” with other people per day, a figure that may be higher in densely populated areas, Jasarevic added.
The organisation has sent 4,000 experimental vaccines to the DRC so far and will send 4,000 more in the coming days as part of a coordinated response.
Ebola, which can cause multiple organ failures, is passed human-to-human by contact through the mouth, nose, or broken skin with blood or other bodily fluids of those infected.
The average fatality rate among those infected with the virus is about 50 percent, according to the WHO.
Earlier on Thursday, WHO Deputy Director Peter Salama said in a tweet the latest confirmed case marked “a game changer” in the outbreak and would make beating back the virus “much tougher”.
Last week, Salama told reporters a “major urban outbreak” could occur if Ebola reached a city of Mbandaka’s size.
The latest cases in DRC come less than a year after its last confirmed Ebola scare in May 2017, during which eight people were infected, four of whom died.
Nine Ebola outbreaks have occurred in DRC since the virus was first identified in 1976.
An Ebola epidemic killed about 11,300 people in West Africa as it surged through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia between 2013-2016.
The virus is contracted by humans through infected animals, typically fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas and monkeys.
Early symptoms include fever, muscle pain, and fatigue followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes and bleeding – both internal and external – apparent in the gums, eyes, nasal passages and faeces.
Ebola takes its name from DRC’s Ebola River, a tributary of the River
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