Posted By: Lee Nelson
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- The death toll from an Ebola virus outbreak has risen to 13 in western Congo, a medical charity said Tuesday.
Laboratory tests last week confirmed 11 deaths from the virus in the remote village of Kaluemba in Western Kasai province, where the epidemic began in late November.
Doctors Without Borders spokesman Francois Dumont two new cases were confirmed from deaths on Dec. 28 and Jan. 1.
A total of 42 patients are suspected to be infected with the virus, Dumont said, up from a previous count of 35.
Dumont said his agency was helping monitor 200 people who have been in contact with those infected, and Doctors Without Borders had set up an isolation unit where one person was recovering.
Last week, the World Health Organization said it had confirmed only two Ebola cases and said other diseases were likely involved.
Ebola kills up to 90 percent of the people it infects and is spread through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person or with contaminated objects.
Last year, Ebola killed at least 187 people in the same region of Congo. An Ebola outbreak in 1995 killed 245 people in the Congolese village of Kikwit.
hat-tip Shiloh
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