Outbreak of rare Ebola strain with no cure kills 118 people with fears death toll will rise

Nearly 120 people have died following a deadly outbreak of Ebola in Central Africa.

There are now 300 suspected cases of the Bundibugyo strain, which was declared as a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The virus is spreading through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, and has no vaccine.

Yesterday, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) launched an emergency response to the outbreak.

Health officials say the number of cases are expected to rise. An American doctor in DRC is among the newly confirmed cases of the virus.

The US has banned anyone who has been in the DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan in the last three weeks.

According to the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control, the likelihood of infection for people in Europe is considered very low.

It’s understood the spread of the virus lay undetected for weeks.

Matthew M Kavanagh, direct of the Georgetown University Centre for Global Health Policy and Politics said: ‘Because early tests looked for the wrong strain of Ebola, we got false negatives and lost weeks of response time.

‘We are playing catch-up against a very dangerous pathogen’.

The Bundibugyo strain is spread through close contact with sick or dead patients’ bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, faeces or vomit.