11 children with suspicious infection of Ebola in southern Guinea - Mediareport

[tetano]

The United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) has launched an emergency in southern Guinea following information that 11 suspected cases of children infected with Ebola virus have been reported, three of whom have already died.
In an effort to prevent the severe, often-fatal disease from spreading further, UNICEF has reportedly rushed in to deliver much needed health supplies to the most affected areas, a report posted on the organization?s website stated. The latest information is being exacerbated by the death of the fifth Ebola patient last Tuesday in Southeast Guinea, which has triggered concerns of possible spread of the virus? recent flare-up.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201603280588.html

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Comment by Crawford Killian:

Although the story has been picked up several times on the #Ebola hashtag, they all link to this one report. I find no corroboration from UNICEF's own website, nor anything in other Liberian or Guinean sources. The headline mentions Liberia, but the cases seem to be in southern Guinea. Worse yet, after that first paragraph about 11 children with suspected Ebola it has nothing else to say about them. Instead it goes back to a rehash of the known cases in Guinea.

The three unquoted paragraphs in the report are standard news-release stuff about what UNICEF has done for Guinea (about the known cases).

So something smells bad about this report, and I've gone to the trouble of blogging it only to note that it looks highly unreliable.

 

[alert]

I'd like to add that a cluster of illness exclusively in children is also unlikely to be Ebola, as Ebola tends to transmit better in familial and healthcare settings. I can think of several other illnesses that might be more likely here, given that only children seem to be affected.