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Congo working to stop new Ebola outbreak, 3 months after end of last outbreak

Ebola Vaccine Stockpile
Posted at 12:19 PM, Feb 08, 2021
and last updated 2021-02-08 12:19:01-05

BENI, Congo — Health officials in Congo confirmed another Ebola outbreak on Sunday, the fourth in less than three years. It also comes three months after Congo announced the end of its latest outbreak, which infected 130 people and killed 55.

Minister of Health Eteni Longondo announced that a woman died in Butembo town in North Kivu province on Feb. 3.

The woman, from the nearby village of Biena, felt sick for a few days before being tested in a clinic there. She then went to a hospital in Butembo, but died before receiving the results.

She was married to a man who had contracted Ebola in a previous outbreak, according to The Guardian. The virus can live in the semen of men who survive for more than three years, according to studies.

The health minister said the government has begun tracing everyone who came in contact with her to try to eradicate the epidemic as soon as possible.