Ebola outbreak kills 5,376 in Africa, Africa CDC says

Africa's latest Ebola outbreak has killed 5,376 people, according to data the African Union's health agency, Africa CDC, shared with AFP on Monday. Of these deaths, 5,372 were in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and two each were in Kenya and Uganda.

The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain. A total of 10,444 cases have been confirmed, with a fatality rate of more than 50 percent. The DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in mid-May, and Al Jazeera described it as the country's largest.

Uganda recorded 20 cases, almost all in people who had travelled from the DRC, and was declared Ebola-free in August. Kenya recorded nine infections in October, including two deaths, the first Ebola cases the country has reported.

Nigeria reported its first imported case in October, the first in more than a decade. It involved a 42-year-old Swiss woman whose husband works at the Swiss embassy in Abuja. The couple had travelled to Uganda before returning to Nigeria, and no deaths were recorded.

Al Jazeera reported that Nigerian health authorities said two rounds of testing on two suspected cases in the northeast were negative. It also noted that France reported a single case in July, involving a health worker returning from the DRC.

There is no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain. Clinical trials of the Ervebo vaccine, which is effective against the Zaire strain, have begun in recent weeks, according to Euronews.

Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids and causes haemorrhagic fever.