The health ministry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has announced that the number of deaths that have been confirmed to have been caused by the latest outbreak of the destructive Ebola virus has risen to 10, out of a total of 35 confirmed cases detected throughout the African country.
The latest figures bring the number of people who have died showing Ebola infection symptoms up to 23, after the inclusion of the latest confirmed death, which occurred in the western Iboko region.
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According to the health ministry, the experimental vaccines _ named rVSV-ZEBOV _ were being used in the country for the first time since their development two years ago by Merck and Co, although they had been tested in Guinea-Conakry following the epidemic that ravaged the West African nation between 2014-16.
Health Minister Oly Ilunga visited Mbandaka on Friday to receive a shot of the antigens in order to "set an example for the entire community," the ministry said.
This was the ninth Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the virus was first discovered there in 1976, when it was still called Zaire.
The disease, which is transmitted through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids belonging to infected people or animals, is widely feared for its destructive internal and external bleeding due to the virus causing severe damage to blood vessels.
It can reach a mortality rate of up to 90 percent.
