For the first time, a case of the Ebola virus has been detected on French soil, in a doctor who returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country currently facing a major outbreak, French health authorities announced.
The Ministry of Health “confirms today the detection of the first confirmed case of Ebola on national territory,” it noted in a statement, clarifying that the patient has been placed in isolation and that the process of tracing his contacts has begun.
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According to French authorities, the risk posed by the Ebola virus to the general population in Europe is low.
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French Prime Minister Stéphane Lecornu is monitoring the situation “very closely,” his aides confirmed.
More than 1,000 people have been infected with the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, of whom 267 have died, according to official figures, with the World Health Organization (WHO) warning that this is the highest number of confirmed cases ever recorded in the first month of an Ebola outbreak.
On May 15, the 17th Ebola outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, although the virus was detected several weeks after “mysterious” deaths in a town in Ituri Province, the epicenter of this outbreak. In total, over the past 50 years, more than 15,000 people have died from Ebola in Africa.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is no vaccine or treatment.
Source: APE-MPE
