From Science Daily
While an Ebola epidemic has been raging in West Africa since March 2014, an outbreak of this haemorrhagic fever occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in August, leaving fears over the virus’ spread to Central Africa. A study by the IRD, the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS, the CIRMF in Gabon, the INRB in DRC and the WHO, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 16 October 2014, confirms that it is an Ebola epidemic. However, this particular epidemic is due to a local strain of the virus, different from the one rife in the West of the continent. While this result shows the two epidemics are not linked, it illustrates the speed at which the disease has emerged. It is therefore urgent that we understand just how the disease is spread.
With the world’s eyes focused on West Africa, where several countries have been affected since March 2014 by the most serious Ebola epidemic ever witnessed, the WHO reported another outbreak in the North of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 24 August. It was therefore essential to verify whether this second epidemic stemmed from that of West Africa, indicating its spread to Central Africa.
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