Congo Finds Second Ebola Case in Eastern City of Goma

(Bloomberg) -- Congolese health authorities detected a second case of Ebola in the eastern city of Goma, a key trade hub of about 1 million people close to the Rwandan border.

The discovery was announced late Tuesday by the head of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola response team, Jean-Jacques Muyembe. The patient died the same day.

“We are doing our best to make sure that patients from Ebola high-risk areas don’t travel to other areas,” Muyembe said in a statement. The first case in Goma was detected on July 15.

Congo’s government urgently needs international support as it tries to get the outbreak under control, including air transport that can get health workers and equipment to remote areas, the World Health Organization said in a joint statement with three United Nations agencies. The disease has killed more than 1,800 people in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu and could spread to neighboring countries such as Rwanda and Uganda.

“The latest case in such a dense population center underscores the very real risk of further disease transmission, perhaps beyond the country’s borders,” it said.

Rwanda remains on high alert, Malic Kayumba, head of communications at the Rwanda Biomedical Center, said by phone. Officials at the Ministry of Health are conducting clinical drills to assess the preparedness of medical staff at different public hospitals in high-risk areas, according to the government.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ignatius Ssuuna in Goma at issuuna@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Alastair Reed

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