The Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed a disease that killed 11 people in a remote forest region was caused by the deadly Ebola virus, which killed 120 people in the same area earlier this year.
There is no known cure for Ebola, which is passed on by infected body fluids and kills between 50 and 90 per cent of victims depending on the strain. The disease damages the blood vessels and can cause bleeding, diarrhoea and shock.
Health Minister Alain Moka said the disease had broken out again near Mbomo, some 700 km north of the central African nation's capital Brazzaville and just across the border from Gabon.
Moka said the toll from the outbreak had risen to 11, from the nine deaths he reported on November 7th, when he had said Ebola was only the suspected cause of the disease.
"It's clearly an Ebola epidemic," Moka told reporters in thecapital Brazzaville last night. "Laboratory analysis of samplestaken from those affected confirm the presence of the Ebolavirus," he said.
Officials believe the latest outbreak in the Mbomo areastarted after a group of hunters ate a dead boar they found inthe forest.
Scientists believe the previous Ebola outbreak in the regionaround Mbomo, known as Cuvette-Ouest, was caused by theconsumption of infected monkey meat. Bushmeat is a staple amongforest communities and a delicacy in many cities.
Ebola also killed 73 people in Gabon and the Congo fromOctober 2001 to February 2002.
The disease is named after a river in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo where it was discovered in 1976. The worstoutbreak was in that country in 1995 when more than 250 died.