DR Congo:22 killed in monkeypox outbreak: government

[Shiloh]

Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...I8MFwM0oG9ndwg

22 killed in DR Congo monkeypox outbreak: government


KINSHASA (AFP) ? A monkeypox outbreak in northeastern DR Congo has killed 22 people and infected 220 more since January, the health ministry said Wednesday.

The Tshuapa district in the Equateur province is the epicentre, according to a government epidemic survey.

Local health authorities are tending the sick with the backing of the UN World Health Organisation. Officials from the US Centers for Disease Control visited the area last week and trained some of them.

The first symptoms of monkeypox are aches, pains and a fever. A bumpy localised rash then appears on any part of the skin. This lesion gradually falls off.

This highly contagious disease usually strikes in remote rural areas surrounded by rainforests although the chances of catching it are very slim, according to experts.

As well as monkeys, African squirrels are among the main carriers of this lethal virus, which was first discovered by scientists in the DR Congo in 1970.

[Shiloh]

Re: DR Congo:22 killed in monkeypox outbreak: government

Source: http://www.health24.com/news/Bacteri...-894,46506.asp

10 quick facts on monkeypox
Last updated: Thursday, May 22, 2008
A monkeypox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed 22 people. Here are ten quick facts on the disease, courtesy of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

* Monkeypox is a rare viral disease caused by the monkeypox virus.
* The virus belongs to a group of viruses including the smallpox virus, and the virus is used in the smallpox vaccine.
* The disease is called monkeypox because it was first found in monkeys.
* Various animals can carry the virus, but squirrels are thought to be the most common carrier.
* The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970.
* The symptoms of monkeypox are similar to, but milder, than those of smallpox. Monkeypox also causes swelling of the lymph nodes.
* The illness can last for two to four weeks ? starting with fever, headache, muscle aches, and backache commencing roughly 12 days after infection. This is followed by the development of a rash that will spread and then fall off.
* Monkeypox is estimated to kill between 1 percent and 10 percent of infected people.
* You can get monkeypox from bites or contact with the body fluids of an infected animal or human. The virus can also be spread through objects like bedding and clothing that are contaminated with the virus.
* There is no known treatment for the disease, although the smallpox vaccine seems to offer some protection.

Source: US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

The original CDC article is available here

[Sally Furniss]

Re: DR Congo:22 killed in monkeypox outbreak: government

Monkeypox Virus Kills 21 People, Infects 237 in Northern Congo
By Franz Wild
<!-- WARNING: #foreach: $wnstory.ATTS: null at /bb/data/web/templates/webmacro_en/washingtonstory.wm:266.2 --> <!-- WARNING: #foreach: $wnstory.ATTS: null at /bb/data/web/templates/webmacro_en/washingtonstory.wm:280.19 --> May 22 (Bloomberg) -- At least 21 people died since January after an outbreak of monkeypox, a virus related to smallpox, in the Democratic Republic of Congo's northern Equateur province, the Health Ministry said.
A further 237 people have been infected with the disease, Bozin Mabanza, an official from the ministry's disease control department, said in an interview today in the capital, Kinshasa. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has supported efforts to contain the outbreak of the disease, which was contracted by forest dwellers in Equateur's Tshuapa district.
``It was quite serious when there was no intervention,'' Mabanza said. ``Now it's a bit better.''
Monkeypox causes a fever, muscle aches and swelling of lymph nodes. It also results in a rash that develops into raised bumps filled with fluid, which later form scabs. In Africa the untreatable disease causes fatality in as many 10 percent of victims, according to the CDC's Web site.
To contact the reporter on this story: Franz Wild in Kinshasa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: May 22, 2008 07:47 EDT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aVgfMU_gH61Y