Haemorrhagic patient recovers well 10/11/2008 20:33:53

A nurse who is being treated at the Morningside Medi-Clinic after contracting a new strain of arena virus that struck Johannesburg, is making progress and has been moved to a general ward. The woman has been in the Intensive Care Unit for almost a month after she contracted the disease from one of the three people who died after being infected with the ENW strain, which is thought to have been brought into the country by a patient from Zambia. The Medi-Clinic's Melinda Pelser says, “The nursing sister being treated for viral haemorrhagic fever is slowly progressing. She's being moved from an ICU patient treatment, to a normal ward patient treatment. But she remains in isolation."

Arena virus ruled out 10/11/2008 09:14:47

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases says there are no new cases of the killer arena virus. A 55-year-old Malawian man was taken to the Fourways Life Hospital in northern Johannesburg on Thursday after he showed symptoms of the new strain of the arena virus that hit Gauteng two months ago. The institute's Adrian Puren said test results confirmed that he did not contract the disease. “The results were available on Saturday afternoon and currently it excludes the presence of the arena virus,” said Puren. Meanwhile, a nurse at the Morningside Medi-Clinic who contracted the virus was still receiving anti-viral treatment after contracting the disease from one of the three people who died in Johannesburg in recent months.

http://www.702.co.za/news/news.asp#97298