The World Health Organization, WHO, has raised concerns over a possible wider spread of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.
According to the WHO, the current outbreak is the seventeenth recorded in the country, with fears that the number of infected persons may be far higher than officially reported.
The organization noted that confirmed cases in two countries, alongside increasing suspected infections, suggest the outbreak could expand across the region.
The previous Ebola outbreak in the DRC ended in December last year after claiming at least thirty-four lives.
Between 2018 and 2020, the country recorded its deadliest outbreak, which killed nearly two thousand three hundred people.
Ebola, believed to originate from bats, spreads through contact with bodily fluids or blood of infected persons and can cause severe bleeding and organ failure.
Health experts say infected persons become contagious only after symptoms appear, while the incubation period can last up to twenty-one days.
