Ebola resurfaces - killing 3 people in Congo

An Ebola epidemic has been declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo after it was revealed that the killer virus has left several dead.

The World Health Organisation confirmed three people had died in the northeastern part of the country today.

A spokesperson from the WHO said the latest outbreak is being taken 'very seriously' after announcing the first death.

The announcement comes after the deadly virus swept across much of west Africa in 2014 and 2015, leaving thousands dead.

Many British aid agencies volunteered to help stop the spread of the virus, including nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who was left critically ill by the deadly disease.

The World Health Organisation has declared a new Ebola epidemic. The epidemic in West Africa previously claimed more than 8,000 lives in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia

'It (the outbreak) is in a very remote zone, very forested, so we are a little lucky,' said spokesman Eric Kabambi.

'We always take this very seriously.'

The outbreak was confirmed from tests on nine people who came down with a hemorrhagic fever in Bas-Uele province in the northeast of the country.

The former Save the Children volunteer Pauline Cafferkey was originally infected in December 2014 while helping Ebola victims in Sierra Leone

The last outbreak of Ebola in Congo was in 2014 and dozens of people died.

Ebola is an RNA virus, similar to HIV and influenza, and as such it has a high rate of mutation.

People can only catch Ebola by coming into contact with the bodily fluids - urine, vomit, diarrhoea - of an infected individual.

It is not an airborne disease, and as such cannot be transmitted through infected people coughing or breathing in open spaces.