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martyb [soylentnews.org] writes:

Ebola Oubreak: First Case Discovered in DRC's Goma City, Home to 2 Million People [independent.co.uk]:

The first case of Ebola [independent.co.uk] in the Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma has been discovered.

Goma, a lakeside city with a population of two million people, is close to the Rwanda [independent.co.uk] border – more than 354 km (220 miles) south of where the second-largest Ebola outbreak was first detected a year ago.

The haemorrhagic fever has gradually spread south, infecting almost 2,500 people and killing more than 1,600.

The Ministry of Health said the person with the confirmed case was a pastor who became infected during a visit to the city of Butembo, where he interacted with Ebola patients.

He first developed symptoms last week before taking a bus to Goma on Friday.

When he arrived in Goma on Sunday he went to a clinic where he tested positive for Ebola.

Officials have now located the bus driver and 18 other passengers, who will all be vaccinated on Monday.

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[...]Ronald Klain, who served as Barack Obama’s Ebola czar, said: “Just one case might be just one case. But, if this is multiple cases in Goma, that is a turning point.”

Goma has been preparing for the arrival of Ebola for a year, setting up hand-washing stations and making sure mototaxi drivers do not share helmets.

But in more rural areas, where containment efforts have been hindered by mistrust of health officials and militia violence, the virus has been hard to contain and the number of new cases has spiked.

Original Submission