NewsDesk @bactiman63

The World Health Organization (WHO) tweeted Friday: Health authorities in #DRC confirmed a 4th case of #Ebola on 19 May. The case patient, a 12-year-old boy in Wangata, passed away today. WHO is supporting @MinSanteRDC  in response to the outbreak.

This is the fourth case recorded since the outbreak started on April 21.

According to a Radio Okapi report, Medical sources claim that the victim was a 12-year-old child in the Maman Balako health area. Since May 14, he had been developing symptoms of Ebola, including fever, fatigue, blackish vomit.

For five days, he was cared for at home, until Thursday, May 19; date on which he was taken to a medical center in the Mbandaka II district. The results of the analysis of the samples taken on the same day from the child were found to be positive for the Ebola virus disease.
But the family put up resistance and brought the child home on Thursday evening, where he passed away on Friday morning.

Sources add that another 9-year-old child died with the same symptoms, in the same neighborhood, on May 6 and buried, without post-mortem collection or a dignified and secure burial. This raises fears of a multiplication of cases.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is experiencing its fourteenth Ebola outbreaks since 1976. The current outbreak is the sixth since 2018 alone – the most frequent occurrence in the country’s Ebola history. Previous outbreaks in Equateur Province were in 2020 and 2018, with 130 and 54 recorded cases respectively.