Official: World Health Organization: Democratic Republic of Congo is Ebola-free

Ebola has officially been eradicated from another African country -- the Democratic Republic of Congo -- the World Health Organization declared Friday, even if the overall fight against the deadly virus is far from over.

The United Nations health agency cleared the DRC for Ebola because 42 days had passed since tests came back negative on the last person with the disease and there have been no other cases since.

The WHO credited the central African country's leadership and effective coordination, including steps to monitor those with the disease and the people they had been in contact with, for the milestone. This marks the seventh Ebola outbreak in the DRC since the virus was first identified in 1976, according to the agency. Continue...

The Democratic Republic of Congo has had 38 confirmed and 28 probable reported Ebola cases in recent months. Of those, 49 people -- including eight health care workers -- have died.

The country's Ebola cases aren't explicitly related to those in hard-hit West Africa, though they come at a time when many around the continent are dealing with the disease. The DRC joins other countries, such as Nigeria and Senegal, that the WHO has declared Ebola-free in recent weeks.

This good news notwithstanding, Ebola remains a very real threat elsewhere, particularly in West Africa.

According to a WHO report out this week, there have been more than 15,000 reported cases of the virus as well as more than 5,000 deaths. The vast majority of both have been in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, though Nigeria, Mali, the United States, Senegal and Spain have also had cases.

U.N Under-Secretary-General Kandeh Yumkella told CNN's Richard Quest on Thursday that he is "cautiously optimistic" that Ebola will be brought under control, pointing, for example, to successes containing the disease in Liberia and increased awareness in some of the hardest-hit areas.

But he also said that "infection rates are increasing exponentially" in parts of Sierra Leone, particularly its capital of Freetown. The U.N. official said the future rests in part on what and how much the international community does to help corral the virus.

Talking about Freetown, the former Sierra Leone trade minister said, "If you look at the spike in the capital, we cannot afford one minute of complacence, whether locally or internationally."