A six week old outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo appears to be ending, according to the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).
"According to our MSF teams, the outbreak is ending," the group said in a statement released late Friday in Kinshasa.The medical group opened centres in September to isolate people showing symptoms of the disease in the town of Kampungu, in West Kasai province of the vast African nation.
A total of 25 cases of the highly contagious virus -- which kills its victims through organ failure after massive internal bleeding -- were recorded in health centres since September 11.
The MSF statement said that for "more than 21 days," the usual incubation period for Ebola, no new suspected cases of the disease had been spotted in the central province.
Francois Nguessan, a World Health Organisation epidemiologist in Kinshasa, also reported no new cases of Ebola since the end of September and said all samples taken from suspect patients since then had been negative for Ebola.
However, MSF and the WHO, stressed that the official end to the Ebola outbreak could not be declared until a second period of 21 days -- extending to mid-November -- passed without any new cases.
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