EBOLA VIRUS INFECTS 837, KILLS 196 IN CONGO

Written by Michael Thervil

EBOLA VIRUS INFECTS 837, KILLS 196 IN CONGO | PHOTOGRAPGHER UNKNOWN

[Congo Ebola] While the world is fighting for oil and gas to be released from the Strait of Hormuz, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is fighting an invisible enemy called Ebola caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus. With confirmed cases of people being infected with Ebola, which has a moderately high mortality rate of 50%; the number of confirmed cases has reached 837. Of those 837 confirmed cases, 196 of those infected have been killed by the viral infection. According to the Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya, “tens of thousands of people who have been exposed to the Ebola virus have not been traced or contracted”. The current estimated number of those that have come into contact with the Ebola virus stands at 26,000 people.

With the bodies of infected victims being highly contagious after being killed by the disease combined with the fact that the bodies of the victims cannot be traditionally buried, health officials in the DRC suspects that that is one of the major driving factors into why so many people have been affected on a continuous basis. Because of this fact, it can easily be said that the true number of those infected with the virus is unknown. The DRC is currently seeking and implementing ways to contain the Ebola outbreak, but so far, the neighboring country of Uganda has also reported cases of Ebola appearing within the borders of their country.

To date, Uganda has reported 19 confirmed cases, with two confirmed deaths. They have also reported one probable case along with one probable death due to the outbreak. The incubation, speed of infection, severity and the kill ratio of those infected with the Ebola virus will be dependent upon the geographical location in which they contracted the disease and which strain of the virus did they contract. So far, the deadliest form of the virus is the Zaire Virus (Orthoebolavirus Zairens). The Zaire strain of the Ebola virus has a mortality rate of 60%-90% if left untreated.