Five patients recover from Ebola in DR Congo and leave hospital

DR CONGO: Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are celebrating after five patients, who had Ebola and now recovered, were allowed to leave hospital.

The current outbreak is suspected to have killed almost 250 people. But those infected can get better and officials stress that people should seek medical help if they believe they have contracted the virus.

On Sunday, there was a ceremony for a group of four nurses who were discharged from a hospital in Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri, the epicentre of the outbreak.

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“You are living stories that this outbreak can be stopped,” World Health Organization (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the four on a visit to Bunia.

“We were really demoralised because we knew that at some point… we were going to die. That was it… I’m telling you, if you have never been isolated, you will not know that it’s not easy,” Nurse Etienne Ezo told the Reuters news agency as he reflected on his experience.

The first survivor, a laboratory worker, to have recovered left hospital last week.

Health workers are on the frontline in the battle against the spread of the virus and are often the most at risk.