Israel reports first suspected Ebola case in traveler from DR Congo

Israel's Health Ministry said a traveler who returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been placed in isolation at Rambam Hospital in Haifa on suspicion of Ebola infection, according to a statement carried by official broadcaster Kanal Ha. The patient sought medical care with fever and headache and is being treated under strict isolation conditions pending a definitive diagnosis. The suspected case comes as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday that confirmed Ebola cases in eastern DR Congo have reached 875 since the outbreak was declared in May, with 202 deaths. Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya warned that the situation could worsen significantly if the disease is not brought under control quickly. The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" on September 17 and described the situation as "extremely concerning" on September 19. Ebola virus disease is a severe hemorrhagic fever with a high fatality rate; it was first identified in 1976 in simultaneous outbreaks near Nzara, Sudan, and Yambuku in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The disease takes its name from the Ebola River, which runs near the village where the first Congolese cases were detected.