KINSHASA, August 3, 2018 (News Wires) - Democratic Republic of Congo will start using Ebola vaccine as early as next week to counter a flare-up the heavily populated eastern part of the Central African country, health minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga said on Friday. Four people have tested positive for Ebola in and around Mangina, a town of about 60,000 people in North Kivu province, some 100 km (60 miles) from the Ugandan border. Another 20 people died from unidentified haemorrhagic fevers in July. The vaccine in question is manufactured by Merck, the minister said. An Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is likely spread over tens of kilometres and poses a high regional risk given its proximity to borders, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said lateThursday. Four people have tested positive for Ebola in and around Mangina, a town of about 60,000 people in North Kivu province, 100 km (62 miles) from the Ugandan border, the health ministry said. Another 20 people died from unidentified haemorrhagic fevers in the area, mostly in the second half of July. Just last week, a previous outbreak on the other side of the Central African country was declared over after killing 33 people. "It would appear that the risk, as we can surmise for DRC, is high. For the region it's high given the proximity to borders, particularly Uganda," said WHO's emergency response chief Peter Salama. "We are talking about tens of kilometres but I stress that this is very preliminary information at this stage." Ebola is believed to be transported long distances by bats and can find its way into bush meat sold at local markets and eaten. Once present in humans, it causes haemorrhagic fever, vomiting and diarrhoea and is spread through direct contact with body fluids. Over 11,300 people died of an epidemic in West Africa from 2013 to 2016. This is the vast, forested central African country's 10th outbreak since 1976, when the virus was discovered near Congo's Ebola river in the north. That is more than twice as many epidemics as any other country.
