Death toll from Ebola in Congo rises to 235

By Alaattin Dogru

DAKAR, Senegal

The death toll from Ebola has risen to 235 in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the start of an outbreak in late July, the country's Health Ministry said on Monday.

According to the Health Ministry, among the 494 cases of reported hemorrhagic fever, 446 of them were confirmed to be Ebola cases.

It has also been reported that 165 people have recovered from the virus.

Some 48 people died after they had a hemorrhagic fever, but it couldn't be verified whether they died of Ebola because they were buried without an autopsy.

Meanwhile, 11 out of 44 health workers infected with the virus died.

A total of 43,449 people were administered anti-Ebola vaccines in the country as part of a campaign began on Aug. 8.

Ebola -- a tropical fever which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.

It can also reportedly spread through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have succumbed to the virus.

Ebola caused global alarm in 2014 when the world's worst outbreak began in West Africa, killing more than 11,300 people and infecting an estimated 28,600 as it swept through Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.