It is the country's 10th outbreak. The first man who contracted the disease in the large city of Goma during this outbreak has died. Most countries in Africa have never has a single case of Ebola. Here are 10 facts about Ebola, according the WHO.
1. Ebola virus was first identified in 1976 in Yambuku, a village not far from the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in a remote area of Sudan.
2. Most cases are contracted through human to human transmission
3. A person who recently died from Ebola can transmit the disease to other persons
4. Sexual transmission of Ebola from male to female is a stong possibility but still unproven
5. The interval between infection and development of symptoms varies from 2-21 days
6. A clinical trial is going on to test whether an Ebola drug is effective
7. A vaccine called rVSV-ZEBOV was highly effective in research conducted in Guinea, and is being used in the ongoing outbreak in DRC
8. Ebola is preventable through hand washing, avoiding contact with bodily fluids of infected persons, and other measures
9. Death rate has varied from 25% to 90% in recent outbreaks
10. Health workers and family members or mourners who come in contact with bodily fluids of infected persons are at the highest risk of infection during an outbreak
