--- title: 2 People Die of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo description: The two deaths are not related to the current outbreak in West Africa, health officials in Congo say canonical: https://time.com/3169729/ebola-congo/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-24T20:24:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:49:34.490Z article:section: Health og:title: 2 People Die of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo og:description: The two deaths are not related to the current outbreak in West Africa, health officials in Congo say og:url: https://time.com/3169729/ebola-congo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2 People Die of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo twitter:description: The two deaths are not related to the current outbreak in West Africa, health officials in Congo say twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 2 People Die of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 24, 2014 8:24 PM UTC by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Aug 24, 2014 8:24 PM UTC Two people have [died of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/24/minister-two-people-died-ebola-congo/14531545/), though the cases may be unrelated to the outbreak in West Africa that has killed more than 1,400 people. Of eight samples taken in the Boende region of Congo’s northwest Equateur province, two came back positive, Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi said Sunday, the Associated Press reports. Eleven people are sick and in isolation, and 80 contacts are being traced. “This epidemic has nothing to do with the one in West Africa,” Kabange said. Ebola has killed 13 people in the region, including five health workers. The current cases are part of the seventh outbreak of Ebola in Congo, where the disease was first discovered in 1976. \[[_AP_](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/24/minister-two-people-died-ebola-congo/14531545/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3169729/ebola-congo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3169729/ebola-congo/"},"headline":"2 People Die of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo","datePublished":"2014-08-24T20:24:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:49:34.490Z","description":"But the deaths are not related to the current outbreak in West Africa, health officials in Congo say","url":"https://time.com/3169729/ebola-congo/","keywords":["infectious diseases","congo"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-diseases/","name":"infectious diseases"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3169729/ebola-congo/","name":"2 People Die of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo"}}]}] ```