美国有线新闻 CNN 刚果爆发“世界第二大”埃博拉疫情 确诊病例约440例（在线收听）

刚果爆发“世界第二大”埃博拉疫情 确诊病例约440例

Medical teams in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a nation in Central Africa, are trying to get a handle on the worst outbreak of Ebola the country's ever seen. To be clear, this isn't the worst outbreak the world has ever seen. That started in West Africa in 2014 and killed more than 11,300 people.

In the new outbreak so far the World Health Organization says more than 200 people are confirmed to have died. There've been around 440 cases in total and it continues to spread. There's no cure for the Ebola virus though an experimental vaccine and some experimental treatments have shown some promise in fighting it. Scientists don't know exactly where Ebola comes from. It causes fever, weakness, vomiting and unexplained bleeding. And among the challenges of treating people in the Democratic Republic of Congo is that it's one of the poorest countries in the world.

It struggles with corruption. It's politically unstable and it's dealt with on and off conflict for years. According to the Voice of America Radio Service, one unique part of this outbreak there is that most of the Ebola patients, more than 60 percent are females. Doctors aren't sure why.

They have been able to help slow or possibly stop it spread in some of the Congolese towns where this outbreak was first reported this summer. The DRC has seen 10 outbreaks of Ebola since it was first identified in 1976.