A death last month has been confirmed to have been caused by ebola, and the World Health Organisation is now seeking anyone that the victim may have had contact with. The organization is also en route to the area to teach locals how to handle someone who has been infected, as well as how to perform safe burials so they minimize their own risk.
"The case is in a very remote zone, very forested, so we are a little lucky,” WHO Spokesman Eric Kabambi told Sky News.
The virus can spread from animals, such as monkeys or bats, to humans. Without treatment, it is extremely contagious among humans.
"Our country must confront an outbreak of the Ebola virus that constitutes a public health crisis of international significance,” the DRC health ministry wrote in a statement about the outbreak.
Though WHO has developed an experimental vaccine, the virus remains fatal in approximately 90% of infections.
Though the virus is highly contagious and deadly, the DRE government has urged the population not to panic.
