Apprehension in DR Congo after sudden spread of Ebola from the countryside to urban areas.

The Ebola outbreak in DR Congo has spread from the countryside into a city, prompting fears that the disease will be increasingly hard to control.  The Health Ministry confirmed a case in Mbandaka, a city of a million people about 130 kilometres from the area where the first cases were confirmed earlier this month. 

The city is a major transportation hub with routes to the capital Kinshasa.  Forty-two people have now been infected and 23 people are known to have died.  Ebola is a serious infectious illness that causes internal bleeding and often proves fatal. 

It can spread rapidly through contact with small amounts of body fluid and its early flu-like symptoms are not always obvious.

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