DR Congo begins vaccinating against new Ebola outbreak

The last outbreak of Ebola in the vast central African nation was three years ago. Photo / Getty Images

The Democratic Republic of Congo has begun a vaccine programme against a fresh Ebola epidemic, which has killed 28 people in the country since late last month.

A first load of 400 doses against the often fatal viral disease was handed out on Sunday in the hotspot town of Bulape, in the central Kasai province, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

The last outbreak of Ebola in the vast central African nation was three years ago and killed six people. Its deadliest, lasting from 2018 to 2020, killed 2300 out of 3500 people known to have been infected.

According to the latest toll from the Congolese health authorities on Sunday, 28 deaths and 81 confirmed cases have been registered since the first confirmed infection of a pregnant 34-year-old woman on August 20.

The WHO believes the fatality rate from this epidemic, which was declared this month, to be around 35%.

The first shipment of vaccines was handed out to those most at risk from the virus, including frontline health workers and close contacts of infected people, the WHO said.

Delivery of another 45,000 vaccines to the DRC had been approved by the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision, the United Nations health agency added.

Ebola was first identified in the DRC, then known as Zaire, in 1976.

In the past half-century, the virus, which is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, has killed around 15,000 in Africa.

The disease causes severe bleeding and organ failure, with the WHO recording epidemic fatality rates of between 25% and 90%.

Scientists have identified six strains of the Ebola virus, with the Zaire strain believed to be responsible for the latest outbreak.

While there is a vaccine for the Zaire strain, not all of the others are covered by vaccines.

- Agence France-Presse