DRC officials pin hopes on experimental vaccine and quick response halting Ebola outbreak
Kinshasa — A pioneering vaccine and rapid response could bring the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) latest Ebola outbreak under control, minimising the chances of it spreading to more populous areas, officials said. Two cases of the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus were confirmed by Congolese authorities on May 8 around Bikoro town in the northwestern province of Equateur. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on May 11 the cases were among 34 suspected Ebola infections in the area in the past five weeks, 18 of whom died and were considered probable carriers. This is the ninth recorded outbreak in the central African nation that last battled the disease in 2017. In this case, the remoteness of Bikoro — about 240km by dilapidated road southwest of the provincial capital of Mbandaka, a city of about 1-million people — may both aid and complicate containment efforts. "We have the advantage of having this epidemic in a very remote area where traveling isn’t easy," said Jean-Jacq...
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