On Sunday, the eastern Congo city of Goma saw its first case of Ebola, according to health officials. This has raised concerns that the deadly virus could spread even quicker in densely populated regions close to the Rwandan border.
Goma is a lakeside city with more than 1 million residents. The city is more than 220 miles south of where the second largest Ebola outbreak on record was detected nearly a year ago.
However, the infection has gradually spread south, affecting more than 2,500 people and killing over 1,600.
Congo’s health ministry said, “The patient was a priest who became infected during a visit to the town of Butembo, 200 km (124 miles) north of Goma, where he interacted with Ebola patients.”
The infected person developed symptoms last week prior to taking a bus to Goma on Friday. After arriving in Goma on Sunday, he visited a clinic where he was tested positive for Ebola.
The ministry said, “Due to the speed with which the patient has been identified and isolated, as well as the identification of all bus passengers from Butembo, the risk of spreading to the rest of the city of Goma remains low.”
The lakeside city has been preparing for the arrival of Ebola for a year. It set up hand-washing stations and made sure mototaxi drivers do not share their helmets.
However, in rural areas, Ebola has been hard to contain. Local community mistrust and militia violence have hampered most containment efforts, which caused the number of new Ebola cases to spike.
The signs and symptoms of Ebola include diarrhea, vomiting, and hemorrhagic fever, which can be spread through close contacts and bodily fluids. An Ebola epidemic from 2013 to 2016 killed over 11,300 people in West Africa.
