This is The Guardian.

An outbreak of Ebola has emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Uganda.

An outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been declared as a public health

emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization.

So far, there have been around 400 suspected cases, and more than 100 people have died.

Ebola is often fatal.

It has a death rate of around 50%.

And this outbreak has experts particularly worried

because the strain involved is rare

and there's currently no vaccine for it.

So today, what do we know about the Ebola outbreak and can it be contained?

I'm the Guardian Science Editor Ian Sampal and this is Science Weekly.

Dr Daniela Mano, you're a clinical epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,

and you've worked on Ebola vaccine trials.

Tell us a bit about what we know so far in terms of when did this outbreak begin.

How many people have been affected and obviously where is it happening?

This outbreak likely started weeks ago and the number of suspected cases and that are already

quite high. But the true size of this outbreak is still not fully known. So this outbreak is in a region of eastern DRC called

the Turi, is a region that is highly populated and as movement of populations within the RC and also

cross borders with Uganda and also neighbouring Rwanda. It's a region where there is insecurity and conflict,

so it's a place where outbreak response can have issues.

And what exactly is Ebola?

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