Three Red Cross volunteers are among the first fatalities of the Ebola outbreak in Congo, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
The organisation stated that the three volunteers likely contracted the virus on 27 March while handling dead bodies. They were unaware of the outbreak at the time, as they were involved in a separate humanitarian mission. The volunteers died on 5, 15, and 16 May.
The first confirmed Ebola cases in a laboratory were reported on 15 May, though experts believe the virus had been spreading undetected for several weeks.
The outbreak is thought to have started in the northeastern province of Ituri, which borders Uganda and South Sudan. This marks Congo’s seventeenth Ebola outbreak since 1976.
The strain is identified as the Bundibugyo variant, for which no vaccine or specific treatment exists, complicating efforts to curb its spread.
Ebola is transmitted through direct physical contact or exposure to bodily fluids.
