A new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has now claimed at least 80 lives, according to Der Spiegel. The outbreak involves a particularly lethal virus variant for which no specific medication has yet been developed. Doctors are preparing a large-scale response operation in East Africa.
The situation is especially alarming because the variant’s high mortality rate and the lack of targeted therapeutics make containment efforts all the more urgent. International health organizations are closely monitoring the spread, and the specter of the devastating 2014–2016 West African epidemic — which killed more than 11,000 people — looms large over the response.
