body-container-line-1

Health workers among 10 dead in DRCongo Ebola outbreak

By AFP
Congo Ebola has also broken out in Uganda, killing 16 there.  By Christopher Black AFPFile
AUG 22, 2012 LISTEN
Ebola has also broken out in Uganda, killing 16 there. By Christopher Black (AFP/File)

KINSHASA (AFP) - Ten people including three healthcare workers have died in an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

The deaths occurred in three different locations, with the healthcare workers among eight dead in the town of Isiro in the north of the country, according to a WHO statement released Tuesday.

The outbreak struck in mid-August and comes on the heals of another Ebola outbreak -- albeit of a different strain -- in western Uganda, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border with DR Congo.

Sixteen people have died from the virus in Uganda since early July, although authorities say the outbreak there has been brought under control.

Ebola is fatal in about 50 to 90 percent of cases, with victims bleeding from body orifices before dying in the most severe instances.

The rare haemorrhagic disease, named after a small river in DR Congo, killed 37 people in western Uganda in 2007 and at least 170 in the north of the country in 2000.

body-container-line