DR Congo Ebola outbreak kills more than 1,700 as WHO accelerates trials

The outbreak is concentrated in the province of Ituri, which accounts for nearly 90 percent of reported cases. The death toll from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak has risen above 1,700, as the World Health Organization (WHO) says trials of experimental treatments, preventive medicines and vaccines are advancing at unprecedented speed. The outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, has killed 1,707 people out of 3,802 recorded cases since it was declared on May 15, according to the latest government figures. More than 17,000 contacts are being monitored, with about 80 percent followed up each day, WHO data show. The epidemic is now the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record and the fastest growing.

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