Measles kills more than Ebola in Congo

Measles is a highly contagious but preventable airborne infection. [File, Reuters]

Democratic Republic of Congo’s government has declared an epidemic of measles, which the latest health ministry figures show has now killed at least 1,500 people, a hundred more than have died of Ebola.

While health officials have focused on the hemorrhagic Ebola virus in Congo’s east, about 87,000 suspected measles cases have been reported across the country so far this year, more than the 65,000 recorded in the whole of last year.