"Panic near our region: Woman in Austria infected with Ebola?"

Authorities had already begun detailed contact tracing and identification of everyone she had been in contact with on Wednesday evening.

According to official information, the woman’s condition is currently stable, but as a precaution she was transferred by a specialized ambulance for highly infectious patients to Vienna, where she will receive further medical care at a clinic specialized in such cases, Heute reports.

Ebola outbreak in Congo

The deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is dramatically spiraling out of control, as the number of suspected cases has sharply risen to more than 904 people.

The Ministry of Communications of this African country announced that the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak is in the eastern province of Ituri, where a huge increase has been recorded compared to the previous 750 infected individuals.

To make matters worse, official reports are in complete disarray regarding the death toll, as authorities claim there are 119 victims, while adding up individual data from regional centers brings the figure to as many as 220 deaths.

The World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern and warned that the risk of a nationwide epidemic in Congo is extremely high, primarily because the dangerous Bundibugyo strain is involved, carrying an alarming mortality rate of 30 to 40 percent, and for which there is currently no approved vaccine or adequate treatment.

About the disease: One of the world’s most dangerous viruses

Ebola is considered one of the deadliest infectious diseases on the planet. Depending on the strain of the virus, the fatality rate among infected patients can reach an extremely high 90 percent.

The virus itself is transmitted exclusively through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. In its early stages, the clinical picture often resembles the common flu, making rapid diagnosis difficult, but the disease can soon progress rapidly, causing severe internal bleeding and failure of vital organs.