“UN warns that Ebola threatens more than two million displaced people in DR Congo”

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The Ebola outbreak declared in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) threatens more than two million people displaced by conflict, warned the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

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Those people, who include more than 320,000 refugees, live in high-risk areas where “fighting continues alongside the spread of Ebola,” UNHCR stressed in a statement, emphasizing its “concern about population movements to and from the affected areas, and their potential impact on transmission.”

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On the 7th, for example, UNHCR recorded the arrival of some 2,250 people in North Kivu province, after armed groups caused panic and forced them to flee to the town of Oicha, an Ebola-affected area that already hosts more than 14,300 displaced people.

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You can also read: WHO warns about the spread of Ebola in Africa and requests US$518 million to contain the outbreak

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“For refugees and internally displaced persons already suffering from trauma, insecurity, and a lack of adequate humanitarian assistance, the outbreak is fueling fear and misinformation, eroding trust in response teams, and delaying access to medical care,” warned UNHCR.

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On June 3, that mistrust led some internally displaced persons to temporarily block access to response teams following two Ebola-related deaths in the Kpangba camp, in Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, the UN Refugee Agency noted.

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UNHCR recalled that “the risk is regional,” as the eastern DRC is located in an interconnected region where trade, family ties, and refugee movements link Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and South Sudan.

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More than 240 dead and nearly a thousand infections

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Last night, the Congolese government raised the death toll from Ebola to 245, including 933 confirmed cases, in a region hit by the violence of fighting between armed groups and the Congolese Army.

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The outbreak was officially declared on May 15 in Ituri, a province bordering Uganda and South Sudan, but it spread to the also eastern Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.

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The epidemic also spread to Uganda, where 19 confirmed infections have been detected, including 14 cases considered imported from the DRC, among which there are two deaths.

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The outbreak corresponds to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, whose case fatality rate ranges from 30% to 50% and for which there is no authorized vaccine or specific treatment, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which considers the risk of the outbreak in sub-Saharan Africa to be “high” and “low” globally.

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The Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids from infected people or animals and causes severe hemorrhagic fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and internal bleeding.

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