The health ministry of the DRC announced on 10 August that four new cases of Ebola virus were reported in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The recent cases were confirmed from the town of Mangina in Congo’s North Kivu province, amounting to a total of 21 in cases. Two more deaths were reported from Mangina and Beni respectively and the cause was found to be hemorrhagic fever, which has killed 38 people.

From this week onwards, the health authorities have begun vaccinating people and health workers who had contact with confirmed cases. Merck’s experimental vaccine, which has proven effective against the outbreak in Congo was administered in these cases also.

The officials are also preparing to use an experimental treatment named mAB114 on Ebola patients for the first time. This therapy was developed in the United States using the antibodies of Ebola survivors, which has proven 100 percent effective in monkey trials.

 Steve Ahuka, a virologist from the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) in the capital Kinshasa, told Reuters “It’s experimental. So we are following the protocol. It has been submitted to the ethical committee and the ethical committee gave its okay.”

Even another experimental based antibody drug treatment like ZMapp, made by Mapp Biopharmaceuticals in San Diego could be used.