HealthDay News — The number of confirmed cases in a new Ebola outbreak in Congo has reached 13, including three deaths, the country’s health ministry said late Saturday. It also said there were 30 probable cases and 33 suspected cases, the Associated Press reported.
The new outbreak in North Kivu province was announced last Wednesday, a week after officials declared the end of a previous outbreak in the northwest that killed 33 people.
Rapid vaccinations of more than 3,300 people helped contain the previous outbreak, and the World Health Organization said it could know as early as Tuesday if that vaccine can be used on the Ebola strain in the new outbreak, the AP reported.
There are 3,000 vaccine doses still in Congo’s capital and 300,000 more doses could be mobilized “at very short notice,” according to Peter Salama, M.D., WHO emergencies director.
