Five recover from Ebola – as Brazil investigates two suspected cases | World News

Five people have recovered from a rare type of Ebola virus, the head of the World Health Organisation has said – as Brazil investigates two suspected cases.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was visiting the city of Bunia in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is at the heart of an outbreak.

“Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,” the director-general said. “Of course, we’re still working on vaccines and treatments but that doesn’t mean that people cannot recover from Ebola.”

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On Friday, the WHO said a patient had recovered from the Bundibugyo virus, the current strain of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine. It was the first documented recovery during the current outbreak.

It comes as a man with a suspected case of Ebola in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state tested positive for meningitis, while another suspected case of Ebola emerged in Rio de Janeiro state, with the person testing positive for malaria. In neither case does the diagnosis of the other disease rule out the possibility of Ebola, authorities said.

In Sao Paulo, a man from the Democratic Republic of Congo presented with a fever after recently visiting the country, while in Rio, the patient had recently travelled to Uganda – both countries are experiencing Ebola outbreaks.

As of Saturday, 263 confirmed Ebola cases have been reported in the DRC and Uganda, the director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.

More than 1,100 suspected cases are being investigated and 43 people are confirmed to have died, Jean Kaseya said in an op-ed for the Financial Times.

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The WHO has declared the outbreak in the DRC and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern.

On Saturday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the virus continues to spread faster than the response, despite better-organised health facilities and new aid arrivals.

It called for the immediate expansion of testing, faster deployment of aid workers and sustained access for medical supplies.

WHO director-general Dr Tedros highlighted the importance of involving the community in the outbreak response.

“We can stop this Ebola and anyone who has it can also recover. But the rule … is this thing is everybody’s business and every citizen should be involved,” he said.