14 confirmed Ebola cases in Congo as emergency meeting held

There are now 14 confirmed Ebola cases in Congo's latest outbreak as health officials rush to contain the often deadly virus in a city of more than 1 million.

Vast, impoverished Congo has contained several past Ebola outbreaks but the spread of the hemorrhagic fever to an urban area poses a major challenge. The city of Mbandaka, which has one confirmed Ebola case, is an hour's flight from the capital, Kinshasa, and is located on the Congo River, a busy travel corridor.

The World Health Organization was holding an emergency meeting today. It now calls the risk to the public in Congo "very high" and the regional risk "high." It says no international travel restrictions are in place. The Republic of Congo and Central African Republic are nearby.

"This is a major, major game-changer in the outbreak," Dr Peter Salama, WHO's emergency response chief, warned yesterday after the first urban case was announced. "Urban Ebola can result in an exponential increase in cases in a way that rural Ebola struggles to do."