The World Health Organization (WHO) said today the third case of Ebola identified in South Kivu province was in a patient who contracted the virus at a health center where other Ebola patients had been treated.
The details on the nosocomial transmission emerged in the WHO’s latest situation report on the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In the past week, two more DRC regions far from outbreak hot spots have reported cases: South Kivu province and Pinga health zone, which is in North Kivu province.
The WHO is still investigating how the case-patient in Pinga contracted the virus, but investigations have shown a mother and child in Mwenga, South Kivu, became infected after contact with a patient from Beni, the city most hard hit by the outbreak this summer. The two towns are about 473 miles apart, and South Kivu province shares a border with Rwanda and Burundi.
“The third confirmed case was a co-patient in a community health facility where the first cases initially sought care,” WHO said. The WHO said 11% of all cases in this outbreak have come from nosocomial transmission, and 5% have involved healthcare workers.
Cases rise to 2,927
Credit: CDC
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