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| Photo: WHO |
Democratic Republic of Congo has declared an end to the deadly Ebola outbreak in the country.
The Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga made the declaration saying there have been no new cases in the Équateur province for 42 days now.
In June the World Health Organisation said the Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo had been “largely contained”.
The global health body then said that no new cases had been confirmed since June 9.
The new cases in the central African country were detected in April this year.
33 people were confirmed to have died from some 53 cases recorded at the time.
A major vaccination exercise was carried out to help prevent further spread of the virus.
The vaccine provided by Merck was administered to 1,112 people, including 567 in the northwestern city.
This year’s outbreak is the ninth to hit the Democratic Republic of Congo in a decade.
The virus which is transmitted by bats was first discovered in DRC in 1976 and named after the Ebola river.
Ebola over but not its impact
The outbreak could be over but not its impacts on survivors.
This month researchers said people who survive the virus are at risk of suffering from severe mental problems.
There could also be neurological problems, including depression, debilitating migraines, nerve pain and stroke.
These details were contained in a study published after researchers analysed patients infected during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Researchers looked at patient notes from of more than 300 Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone was one of the countries worst hit in the 2014-2016 epidemic.
Some survivors of the disease are said to have severe health conditions that they were left unable to care for themselves.
