Today's global coverage begins in Central Africa. International health officials say they have reason to be cautiously optimistic about limiting the spread of an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was first reported in early May. Since then, there'd been 54 cases identified in the DRC. That includes 25 people who've died from Ebola.
On average, the virus kills about half of those who get it. Most of the cases in this outbreak were in a rural area. But what alarmed medical officials a couple of weeks ago is that the disease had spread to a city named Mbandaka, where more than a million people live and there were concerns that it could spread quickly there.
So, doctors started vaccinating people. The World Health Organization says more than 400 had been vaccinated so far. The drug is experimental. It's not approved everywhere. But the officials using it say it's both safe in humans and highly effective against the Ebola virus.