Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have set up two Ebola Treatment Centres in Bikoro, one of the epicentres of the latest outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The rural community is in a remote area in the north west of the country, with 10 confirmed Ebola patients and 12 suspected or probable cases.
Twenty-five people have died in the outbreak in the country, which is the largest since more than 11 300 people died of Ebola in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in an outbreak that reached its peak in 2014.
Health ministry figures showed on Tuesday that five out of 12 people in total have died of Ebola in Bikoro.
MSF began vaccinating medical staff on Monday (May 28). The charity says vaccination will be administered using a ‘ring’ approach whereby doctors identify new confirmed Ebola patients and locate the people they have been in contact with.
MSF say the current vaccination programme creates a buffer zone or protective ring to prevent the spread of infection.
The experimental vaccine is still not licensed but proved effective during limited trials in West Africa during the last outbreak.
