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A new case of Ebola virus was confirmed in the city of Beni in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country’s National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) said on Monday.
The cases occurred in North Kivu and Ituri provinces from 2018 to 2020 and killed nearly 2,300 people, according to a statement by Placide Mbala, director of the INRB Institute for Pathogenic Genomics.
Another flare-up from that outbreak killed six people last year. A recent outbreak in Congo, which broke out in other parts of the country, was declared over in July after causing five deaths.
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Ebola persists in the eyes, central nervous system, and bodily fluids of survivors and can flare up years later.
The case was confirmed in a woman who died on August 15 after being admitted to a hospital in Beni on July 23, the statement said.
“Our initial findings indicate that this case likely represents a new flare-up of the 2018-2020 Nord Kivu/Ituri outbreak, and the number of persistently infected survivors or initiated by transmission of the Ebola virus from survivors who experienced relapses”.
Investigations to identify the source are ongoing.
The statement said at least 131 women, including 60 frontline health workers, had been in contact, 59 of whom had been vaccinated against Ebola.
The World Health Organization said Saturday that authorities were investigating a suspected case of Ebola in Beni after the death of a 46-year-old woman.
Congo’s dense rainforest is the natural host for the Ebola virus, which causes fever, body aches and diarrhea.
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The country has recorded 14 outbreaks since 1976. The 2018-2020 eastern outbreak was the largest in Congo and he was the second largest ever recorded, with a total of about 3,500 cases.