Second Ebola patient in major Congo city dies, a year after outbreak

The second patient infected with the Ebola virusin Congo's major city of Goma has died, almost exactly a year afterthe start of the epidemic, a health official said Wednesday."The patient ... died Wednesday morning because he was alreadyweakened and his illness was discovered late," Jean-Jacques Muyembe,the director of the Institute for Biomedical Research, which isleading Congo's Ebola response, told dpa.Health authorities started Wednesday a vaccination campaign in Gomain an attempt to contain the spread of the disease, hours after thesecond case was detected in Goma, a city of about 2 million peoplewhich borders Rwanda. Everyone who has come into contact with the patient will bevaccinated, said Muyembe, adding that there was "no reason to panic."The patient had travelled to Goma from the province of Ituri anddeveloped the first symptoms of the disease on July 22, Congoleseauthorities said in a statement. A first case of Ebola was reported in Goma in mid-July, with thepatient dying shortly thereafter, leading to the World HealthOrganization (WHO) declaring the outbreak an international healthemergency.Eastern Congo has been at the centre of the second-worst Ebolaoutbreak in history since August 1, 2018.But until this month, no major cities had been affected by theepidemic.Rwanda and other neighbouring countries - South Sudan, Uganda andBurundi in particular - are now on high alert.The virus has killed more than 1,700 people, while more than 2,600people are infected with the disease, which causes a fever and oftenleads to massive internal bleeding and fatalities, according to theWHO."Ultimately, Ebola will continue to spread alongside malaria,measles, cholera [and] polio, as long as the people of the DRC andother countries do not have stronger health systems, access to cleanwater, roads, education and all the other building blocks of ahealthy society," WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moetitold reporters in a telephone briefing.