************************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
Date: Fri 2 Jan 2009
Source: The ZimDaily News [edited]
Ebola kills two Zim soldiers in Congo DR
----------------------------------------
2 Zimbabwean soldiers have been killed by the deadly Ebola virus that
has killed 11 people in western Congo, reports said.
A total of 35 people have been infected in Kaluemba, Western Kasai
[Kasai Occidental] province, where the epidemic began in late November
[2008], the Democratic Republic of the congo [Congo DR] Health
Minister August Mopipi confirmed yesterday [1 Jan 2009].
Zimbabwean soldiers who have been deployed to the Congo DR to
reinforce Joseph Kabila's shaky defence lines against rebel leader,
General Laurent Nkunda, have succumbed to the disease. Efforts to
obtain comment from the army were futile. Our source said: "This
information has been classified." The Congo DR reports say suspected
cases of the highly contagious disease identified in the Congo DR had
infected 2 Zimbabwean soldiers who both died within 24 hours.
Last year, Ebola killed at least 187 people in the same region of
Congo DR. Area villagers have recently reported diarrhea and vomiting
of blood, said Olivier Chenebon of the Belgian charity Medecins Sans
Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). The charity is monitoring 102
people who have been in contact with those infected "because it is
possible they could contract the disease and infect others," Chenebon
said.
There are serious fears over Zimbabwean soldiers stationed in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo who were deployed to repel a massive
ground attack by General Nkunda's army.
By Nozipho Maseko)
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
[According to the World Health Organisation, as of 31 Dec 2008 so far
only three of 12 fatalities in the outbreak of hemorrhagic fever-like
illness in the Mweka District of Kasai Occidental province have been
confirmed by laboratory testing to be cases of Ebola hemorrhagic fever.
The ZimDaily News report above cannot be evaluated until information
becomes available about the nature of the illness leading to the
deaths of the two Zimbabwean soldiers and their proximity to the site
of the Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreak. Further information is
awaited. - Mod.CP]
hattip aurora
No comments:
Post a Comment