According to the WHO, the first patient contracted the deadly disease through an infected animal. He started experiencing complaints on April 5, but did not seek treatment until a week later. On April 21, he was admitted to an Ebola treatment center in Mbandaka, the capital of the Congolese province of Equateur. The man died that same day.
According to the WHO, this new infection is not the result of the previous Ebola outbreak in the Central African country, which ended in December. The disease has appeared occasionally in Africa since its discovery in 1976. People can contract the virus by eating infected animals. People spread Ebola among themselves through direct contact with blood, faeces, urine, semen, vomit and sweat. Symptoms include fever, bleeding and headache.