Congo confirms two Ebola cases, 10 more cases suspected

Congo hasconfirmed two cases of Ebola in the northwestern town of Bikoroand at least 10 more cases are suspected, the head of thenational institute for biological research, Jean Jack Muyembe,said on Tuesday.

A source at the ministry of health also said two cases hadbeen confirmed and added that there would be an officialannouncement about it later in the day.

It is the ninth time Ebola has been recorded in the DRC,whose eastern Ebola river gave the deadly virus its name when itwas discovered there in the 1970s.

The latest incidence of the disease comes less than a yearafter the central African country's last outbreak, in whicheight people were infected of whom four died.

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Congo's vast, remote geography gives it an advantage, asoutbreaks are often localized and relatively easy to isolate.

In West Africa, an Ebola outbreak that ended two years agokilled more than 11,300 people and infected some 28,600 as itrolled through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia before finallybeing contained.