[Reuters]
[Reuters]

The Ebola virus has crossed beyond the African continent, with France's health ministry confirming the first case on French soil.

According to French outlet Le Parisien and other media, the ministry announced Wednesday in a statement that "the first positive case of Ebola virus on French territory has been confirmed." AFP said the case marks the first confirmed infection outside the African continent in the current outbreak.

The patient is a French doctor who returned home after conducting humanitarian work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ebola is spreading. According to Le Parisien, the patient was transferred to a specialist medical facility immediately upon arriving in France and is currently in stable condition.

The strain driving this outbreak is the Bundibugyo variant, a rare form of the virus for which there is no vaccine or specific treatment. It is currently spreading in both the DRC and Uganda.

France's health ministry said the risk of infection for the general public in Europe is low.

[Reuters]
[Reuters]

The outbreak is accelerating sharply. According to the latest epidemiological report released by the World Health Organization on Sunday, the DRC has recorded a cumulative 1,048 confirmed cases — including 202 suspected cases — and 267 deaths.

According to Le Parisien, the number of confirmed cases more than doubled and the death toll more than tripled in a single day. The previous report, based on figures from Saturday, showed 471 confirmed cases and 84 deaths.

The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Jason Asher of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's infectious disease forecasting and analytics team warned Le Parisien that "without strong public health measures, an epidemic on the scale of 2014 to 2016 is possible." The West Africa Ebola outbreak during that period killed more than 11,000 people.

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever virus that has claimed more than 15,000 lives in Africa over the past 50 years. It spreads through close contact and bodily fluids.


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