New outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo likely unrelated to the west African outbreak

​On 24 August 2014, the Minister of Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) confirmed an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the area of Djera, outside Boende, Equateur province, northern DRC. According to the official statement quoted by media, 13 patients have died since August 11 2014, 11 patients are presently sick in isolation and 80 contacts are being followed. Samples from two of the patients have tested positive for Ebola virus at the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) in Kinshasa. The samples have been sent to a reference laboratory in Gabon for confirmatory testing and further analysis.

The outbreak is taking place in a remote rural area of DRC (800 km from the capital Kinshasa and 300 km from the regional capital Mbandaka), in a country where seasonal outbreaks of EVD have previously taken place. This is the seventh recorded EVD outbreak in the country since the disease was first recognised in the country (then Zaire) in 1976. Available epidemiological data, as well as preliminary laboratory findings, indicate a low likelihood that the DRC outbreak is related to the much larger ongoing outbreak in west Africa, but only the final laboratory analysis can shed more definite light on this.

ECDC will continue to monitor and update its information on the outbreak as more facts become available.