THURSDAY, Aug. 1, 2019 (HealthDay News) — The first transmission of the Ebola virus in Congo’s major city of Goma was announced Thursday by the country’s health ministry. It said that the disease has been confirmed in the 1-year-old daughter of a man who died of Ebola on Wednesday. The man had symptoms for several days while at home with his large family, CBS News reported.
Goma has a population of more than 2 million people and is located on the border with Rwanda. Health officials are trying to identify and vaccinate people who had contact with the man as well as contacts of those contacts.
The death of the man in Goma “in such a dense population center underscores the very real risk of further disease transmission, perhaps beyond the country’s borders, and the very urgent need” for more global support, United Nations agencies said in a joint statement, CBS News reported.
Rwanda has closed its border with Congo due to the Ebola outbreak that is entering its second year. The outbreak has killed more than 1,800 people and is the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. Children have accounted for nearly one-third of the deaths, CBS News reported. Last month, the outbreak was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.
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