NewsDesk @bactiman63

In a follow-up on the 14th and current Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Mbandaka city, Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), country health officials reported a third confirmed case in Mbandaka on May 4, 2022.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the individual is a 48-year-old man who was in contact with the first case who died a few days ago.

The responders have identified 444 contact cases and are continuing to monitor their state of health.

On 23 April 2022, the national Minister of Health declared an outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A total of 300 doses of rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine arrived in Mbandaka from the cities of Goma and Kinshasa. Vaccination started on 27 April 2022 through the ‘ring vaccination’ strategy where contacts and contacts of contacts are vaccinated to curb the spread of the virus and protect lives. A total of 265 persons have been vaccinated to date.

WHO says the presence of the natural reservoir of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo can account for the relative frequency of EVD outbreaks in recent years, making this the third since 2018 in the Equateur Province. Located on the banks of the Congo River, Mbandaka City serves as an important transit point to other parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo including the capital Kinshasa as
well as the neighboring Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. This highlights the urgency required to contain the outbreak to prevent a potential spread to nearby population centres