An Ebola outbreak has been declared in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Health workers in protective gear at the Nongo Ebola treatment centre in Conakry, Guinea. Photo: AFP
There are two confirmed cases of the virus and 17 deaths, Congo's health ministry said on Tuesday.
"Our country is facing another epidemic of the Ebola virus, which constitutes an international public health emergency," the ministry said in a statement.
"We still dispose of the well trained human resources that were able to rapidly control previous epidemics," it said.
"Since notification of the cases on May 3, no deaths have been reported either among the hospitalised cases or the healthcare personnel," the statement said.
The recent outbreak declaration was made after laboratory results confirmed two cases of Ebola out of a sample of five suspected patients, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
WHO's deputy director-general for emergency preparedness and response Peter Salama said: "Our top priority is to get to Bikoro to work alongside the government."
"Working with partners and responding early and in a co-ordinated way will be vital to containing this deadly disease."
The international health organisation said it released US$1 million (NZ$1.4 million) from an emergency fund and deployed more than 50 experts to work with officials in the country.
It is the ninth time Ebola has been recorded in the central African nation, whose eastern Ebola river gave the deadly virus its name when it was discovered there in the 1970s, and comes less than a year after its last outbreak which killed eight people.
In 2014 more than 11,000 people were killed in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Despite regular outbreaks every few years, death tolls in Congo have been significantly lower.
"Our top priority is to get to Bikoro to work alongside the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and partners to reduce the loss of life and suffering related to this new Ebola virus disease outbreak," said Dr Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-General, Emergency Preparedness and Response.
Ebola is believed to be spread over long distances by bats, which can host the virus without dying, as it infects other animals it shares trees with such as monkeys. It often spreads to humans via infected bushmeat.
-BBC / Reuters