{"id":117427,"date":"2025-09-05T23:31:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/117427\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T23:31:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T23:31:04","slug":"doctors-sound-alarm-after-ebola-kills-15-in-the-congo-sparking-fresh-pandemic-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/117427\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors sound alarm after Ebola kills 15 in the Congo sparking fresh pandemic fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

By EMILY STEARN, SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 13:39 BST, 5 September 2025 | Updated: 14:30 BST, 5 September 2025 <\/p>\n

At least 15\u00a0people have been killed by one of the world’s deadliest diseases in the\u00a0Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Officials are desperately trying to contain the killer virus, which began spreading in the southern part of the African\u00a0nation last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some 28 cases\u00a0have already been detected, with four health workers among the fatalities.<\/p>\n

It marks the 16th outbreak of the deadly virus in a country that has suffered poor health services, and is currently battling conflict in the east.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DRC’s health ministry said officials were alerted after a\u00a034-year-old pregnant woman was hospitalised in Kasai province, which borders Angola, on August 20 with symptoms including high fever and vomiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They did not confirm whether she was among the fatalities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Mohamed Janabi, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa said the UN agency was ‘acting with determination to rapidly halt the spread of the virus and protect communities’.<\/p>\n

WHO experts have now been dispatched alongside Congo’s Rapid Response Team to the province\u00a0to strengthen disease surveillance, treatment and infection prevention and control in health facilities.<\/p>\n

\"At <\/p>\n

At least 15 people have been killed by Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.\u00a0It marks the 16th outbreak of the deadly virus in the country. (Pictured: health workers during a 2018 outbreak)<\/p>\n

\"Ebola,\u00a0which <\/p>\n

Ebola,\u00a0which has a fatality rate of 53.6 per cent, is mainly transmitted through exposure to bodily fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he warned that\u00a0‘case numbers are likely to increase as the transmission is ongoing’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added: ‘Response teams and local teams will work to find the people who may be infected and need to receive care, to ensure everyone is protected as quickly as possible.’<\/p>\n

The WHO also said DRC had a stockpile of treatments as well as 2,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine that will be transported to Kasai to vaccinate contacts and frontline health workers.<\/p>\n

It will deliver two tons of supplies including mobile laboratory equipment and medical supplies.<\/p>\n

Ring vaccination\u2014when cases and their close contacts receive the jab\u2014has previously been highly effective in controlling Ebola’s spread in recent outbreaks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last outbreak in DRC was three years ago, killing six people.<\/p>\n

But an outbreak between 2018 and 2020 was far deadlier, claiming almost 2,300 lives.<\/p>\n

Ebola<\/a> is an often-fatal viral haemorrhagic fever named after a river in DRC, where it was discovered in 1976.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Ebola virus\u00a0naturally resides in fruit bats, monkeys and porcupines living in the rainforest, and can also be transmitted through eating uncooked ‘bushmeat’. (Pictured: a 3D rendered image of the virus)<\/p>\n

The virus, which has a fatality rate of 53.6 per cent, is mainly transmitted through exposure to bodily fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea.<\/p>\n

It naturally resides in fruit bats, monkeys and porcupines living in the rainforest, and can also be transmitted through eating uncooked ‘bushmeat’.<\/p>\n

Ebola outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments.<\/p>\n

People who are infected do not become contagious until symptoms appear, which is after an incubation period of between two and 21 days.<\/p>\n

Ebola has never spread between people in the UK.<\/p>\n

But it was imported by a healthcare worker returning to the UK from Sierra Leone in 2014, amid intense transmission in West Africa. They fully recovered.<\/p>\n

World Health Organization<\/a><\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n Doctors sound alarm after Ebola kills 15 in the Congo sparking fresh pandemic fears<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By EMILY STEARN, SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER Published: 13:39 BST, 5 September 2025 | Updated: 14:30 BST, 5 September…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[97,59,102,56,54,55,26582],"class_list":{"0":"post-117427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom","14":"tag-world-health-organization"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}