Ebola outbreak kills 65 in eastern DR Congo’s Ituri province

Preliminary tests conducted at the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) in the capital, Kinshasa, have detected the virus in 13 of 20 samples analysed, following consultations with DR Congo’s Ministry of Health and National Public Institute.

Additional suspected cases have also been reported in Ituri’s provincial capital, Bunia, with laboratory confirmation pending.

First identified in 1976 in what is now DR Congo, Ebola is thought to have passed to humans from bats.

Early symptoms include fever, muscle pain, fatigue, headache and sore throat. There is no cure for Ebola.

Around 50,000 people have died from the virus in different African countries over the past 50 years.

DR Congo’s deadliest outbreak was between 2018 and 2020, during which nearly 2,300 people died.

Last year, 15 people died in the country, in what was its 16th outbreak.