EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (05): (KASAI

Date: Thu 15 Jan 2009
Source: The Times online, Agence Franc-Presse report [edited]
<http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=918569>


Seven more people have tested positive [by laboratory testing] for the
deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo [Congo DR],
bringing the toll of suspected and confirmed cases to 46, according to the
medical group Medecins sans Frontieres [Doctors without Borders].

14 people have died, all exhibiting symptoms of the hemorrhagic fever, but
only one of the deaths has been confirmed [by laboratory analysis] as
resulting directly from Ebola virus infection. The deaths were all in
western Kasai [Kasai Occidental province], a remote province where about
187 people died of Ebola fever last year [2008].

Ebola kills up to 90 per cent of the people it infects and is spread
through direct contact with blood and secretions, or via contaminated objects.

On Tue 6 Jan 2009, neighbouring Angola shut down its north eastern border
with the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a bid to stop the spread of
the deadly Ebola virus.

--
communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via
ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>

[As reported in the previous report from the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, the number of laboratory confirmed cases of Ebola hemorrhagic fever
remains at 7. The total of confirmed and suspected cases has risen to 46.
There have been 14 deaths of patients exhibiting signs and symptoms of
Ebola hemorrhagic fever, but only one of these fatalities has been
confirmed by laboratory analysis. There is a continuing suspicion that the
outbreak may be more complex and involve more than a single etiological agent.

A map of the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be accessed at
<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/congo_demrep_pol98.jpg>, and the
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map is available at
<http://healthmap.org/promed/en?g=214139&v=-4.5,22,5>. The location of
Mweka District (the site of the outbreak) can be found at
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mweka,_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo> or
by downloading the pdf file of the ICRF report at
<http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-7N5R2X?OpenDocument>. -
Mod.CP]