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DRC government declares Ebola outbreak in the south
The disease that killed nine people in southern Democratic Republic of Congo has been identified as the deadly Ebola virus. That according to the country's health minister.
- Ebola confirmed in DR Congo
The virus appeared in southern Western Kasai province on Nov. 27, and blood and stool samples were sent to laboratories in Gabon and South Africa for identification.
There is no cure or treatment for Ebola, which kills 50 to 90 percent of its victims.
Mukulumanya said an Ebola epidemic in the same area last year was originally believed to have killed 174 out of more than 400 suspected cases. Medical experts now think the death toll may have been much lower.
He said "the country has had to face similar situations in the past. But this is the first time that an epidemic has hit the same area twice."
He added that "measures have already been taken to avoid the spreading of this epidemic to other locations."
Symptoms of Ebola begin with fever and muscle pain, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
A major outbreak of Ebola in Congo, then known as Zaire, in 1995 killed 250 of the 315 people infected.
This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.
(duration: 1'19")
