Congo - Ebola - 183 deaths + 187 suspected cases

Laidback Al · Sep 21, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record . . .

Marburg haemorrhagic
fever, Democratic Republic
of the Congo

Since 13 September 2007, following the
confirmed laboratory diagnosis of the
presence of the Ebola haemorrhagic
fever virus in samples taken from cases
in the province of Kasai Occidental of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, WHO is
currently upgrading its field operations to
support the Ministry of Health in managing
and containing the outbreak.
A team from the WHO Country Office has
been present in the affected area since
3 September 2007 with further staff from
the WHO Regional Office for Africa joining
the field operations on 7 September and the
following week from WHO Headquarters.
The WHO team is working closely with
representatives from the Ministry of Health
and M?decins Sans Fronti?res to upgrade
the existing facilities. One of the highest
priorities is the establishment of a mobile
field laboratory to be attached to the existing
isolation ward in order to expedite rapid
diagnosis of patients and to differentiate
between the different pathogens, such as
Shigella dysenteriae
type 1, that have also
been associated with this outbreak. Ongoing
surveillance and case-finding are also
being enhanced, and social mobilization
activities are under way to provide the local
population with all relevant information in
order to contain the outbreak.
WHO is also establishing a logistics
platform in the vicinity to support the field
operations and to facilitate access to the
affected area.
Further information can be found at the
WHO Marburg haemorrhagic fever web
site: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/marburg/en/index.html

http://www.who.int/wer/2007/wer8238.pdf

Treyfish · Sep 21, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

<TABLE style="DIRECTION: ltr" width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Medics Struggle to Limit DRC Ebola Outbreak</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top>By Selah Hennessy
Dakar
21 September 2007
</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Hennessy report (mp3) - Download 570k

Listen to Hennessy report (mp3)

A suspected Ebola death has been reported in another province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising fears that the virus may be spreading. But the World Health Organization says that with new mobile laboratories in the country and an effective awareness campaign taking place, isolating Ebola cases should now become easier. Selah Hennessy reports from the VOA West and Central Africa bureau in Dakar.
Doctors are currently testing samples from a suspected Ebola victim in East Kasai, a province that neighbors West Kasai, where all previous cases had been identified.
In the past week, a number of suspected cases have also been reported in the capital of West Kasai-outside the outbreak's original rural confines.
"We have about 400 suspected cases, but actually this is a number that is changing everyday," said Christiana Salvi, a spokeswoman for the United Nations World Health Organization, based in Kinshasa..
So far over 170 people have died in the southern province due to strange illness since April, though only nine have been confirmed Ebola cases.
Salvi says there are several diseases ravaging the region simultaneously; including typhoid, which she says has killed five people, and shigella. She says this can make it difficult to identify and isolate the Ebola cases.
"At the beginning that was not very easy for logistic reasons because all the samples had to be sent to external labs, including in Gabon and in Atlanta," she explained. "But now through these mobile labs, which are being installed in the field we will be able to have a rapid diagnosis. "
<TABLE class=APIMAGE style="DIRECTION: ltr" width=210 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD>

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=imagecaption>Dr. Gary Kobinger (left), research scientist, listens as Dr Frank Plummer, plans to send Canadian team to DRC to assist with Ebola containment</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>She says two high-tech mobile laboratories have been sent from Canada, which means that samples can be tested in two to six hours and Ebola victims can be quickly isolated.
She says a second crucial factor in limiting the spread of the disease is educating the population.
"What is being done is basically to develop messages to the population on how to avoid the risk of transmission, but also on how to recognize cases, to identify suspect cases and to report to the local health authorities," she added.
She says Congo's health ministry, with support from international organizations, has been distributing leaflets and airing radio and television programs about the virus.
But Salvi says health teams are still a long way from bringing the situation under control.
"We will be able to say that this outbreak is controlled when we have all suspect cases tested, when we follow up all their contacts, and when we have all the cases isolated. And after that we need to check two incubation periods," she noted.
Each incubation period lasts 21 days.
Ebola is a highly infectious disease, which can be spread through direct contact with the blood, body fluids, or body tissue of an infected person.
There is no known cure for the virus, which is fatal in between 50 and 90 percent of cases.
An Ebola outbreak that struck Congo in 1995 left 250 people dead.:tiphat: http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-09-21-voa34.cfm

Treyfish · Sep 21, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Photo : Peter Kimarx, CDC. The isolation ward set up by MSF for the current Ebola outbreak in West Kasai province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Photo : Peter Kimarx, CDC. The isolation ward set up by MSF for the current Ebola outbreak in West Kasai province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. :tiphat: http://www.msf.ca/en/news/newsreleases/2007/091407_ebola.html

Treyfish · Sep 22, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Kananga: Ebola, arrival of 2 laboratories of fast tracking
Western Kasa? | September 22, 2007 with 13:13: 39

Hits: 24
This material of laboratory arrived Saturday at Kananga, bound for Mweka and of Lwebo, two territories affected by the virus of Ebola. This material will be able to also confirm the assumption of the doctors on the existence of other diseases presenting the same symptoms as the hemorrhagic fever and Shigellosis in the area, brings back radiookapi.net

This material of laboratory weighs a ton. With that material of protection is added. For the provincial inspection of Health, the fast installation of this material with Mweka and Lwebo are a priority. It [the material] will allow the specific treatment of each case presenting the symptoms of the hemorrhagic fever of Ebola.

The statistics of WHO published Friday indicate 174 cases of death on approximately 400 recorded cases. The same statistics stress that 9 cases of Ebola were confirmed by laboratories specialized on tens of samples, since the beginning of the epidemic.

Meanwhile, the provincial medical inspection notes a fall of suspect cases in the reception facilities. Friday evening, three cases from which two low registers were insulated in Kapungu, principal hearth of the epidemic; a suspect case is deceased in Bulape. Lastly, 126 cases are in observation in the whole of the province, informs one with the provincial inspection.:tiphat: http://www.radiookapi.net/index.php?i=53&a=14656

Treyfish · Sep 22, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

A long story about the outbreak in Uganda in a 2000-01,and the brave drs and nurses who gave their lives fighting it.

Dr. Matthew's Passion

Published: February 18, 2001
In the last few hours before he died, Simon Ajok seemed to explode -- first in blood, then in aggravation.

The burly male nurse, who had contracted Ebola while caring for patients in an isolation ward at St. Mary's Hospital in northern Uganda, was wearing an oxygen mask when he started to hemorrhage. The oxygen had turned his blood bright red. It saturated the whites of his eyes and swelled his eyelids to near-bursting. He began to bleed profusely from his nose and gums. Fighting to breathe, Simon ripped off his oxygen mask. He coughed violently, spraying a fine mist of mucous and blood onto the wall beside his bed.
Then, to the astonishment and terror of the night-shift staff in the Ebola ward, the 32-year-old nurse hauled himself out of bed. Coughing blood and muttering angrily, he lurched out of his private room and into the long hallway of the ward...
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E3D71131F93BA25751C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

Treyfish · Sep 22, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=468 border=0><TBODY><TR height=12><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleheadlinetext1 width=468>Ebola outbreak spreads in DRC region</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=468><TBODY><TR height=12><TD>

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=standardtext vAlign=top align=left width=468>Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Nine cases of Ebola virus have been confirmed in the West Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that is at the epicentre of an outbreak that has killed at least 174 people, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said on Friday.

"We have now nine cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever confirmed in the laboratory, five cases of typhoid and one case of Shigella," WHO spokesperson in the DRC Cristiana Silvi said.

Symptoms of the epidemic -- high temperature, bloody diarrhoea, visible haemorrhaging -- were first seen on April 27 in the Kampungu region of West Kasai.

The Belgian chapter of M?decins sans Fronti?res (MSF) said it had five people with Ebola in its clinic in Kampungu.

"Three patients, including two very severe cases, are in total isolation, and two are convalescing," MSF Belgium emergency coordinator Rosa Crestani said by telephone from Kampungu.

During the past two days in the area, two members of the same family succumbed to the disease, she added.

These bring to 174 the number of confirmed dead out of nearly 400 reported cases of patients suffering symptoms from various illnesses including Ebola, Shigella (which is similar), acute malaria or gastro-enteritis.

There is no known cure for Ebola, which causes massive internal bleeding, and on average is fatal in about 80% of cases. Shigella, a type of infectious dysentery, is treatable with antibiotics, but is still fatal in about 40% of cases.

Experts from the United States Centres for Disease Control and Canada's Public Health Agency are expected to get laboratories set up in the region by Monday, said the WHO's Silvi.

"The equipment is still en route. Once it arrives, probably on Sunday or Monday, it will only take a few hours to set up the labs. Then a precise diagnosis can be obtained in two to six hours," she added. -- Sapa-AFP:tiphat:

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx..._news__africa/

Treyfish · Sep 22, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

DRC: 9 confirmed cases of Ebola, 2 operational laboratories by Monday
AFP
Sep 22, 07 - 11h26
KINSHASA, 21 seven 2007 (AFP) - Last nine cases of hemorrhagic fever Ebola were identified in Western Kasa?, area of the center of the democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where two laboratories should be operational by Monday, one learned Friday near the World Health Organization (WHO).

?We currently have nine cases of hemorrhagic fever Ebola confirmed in laboratory, five cases of typhoid and a case of (bacillar dysentery) shigellosis?, declared in AFP Cristiana Salvi, attached of press to WHO in DRC.

The first symptoms of the epidemics (strong fevers, bloody diarrhoeas, haemorrhages) were identified at the end of April in the area of Kampungu, on the axis Kananga-Luebo-Mweka, wedged zone of Western Kasa?.

Doctors without border-Belgium (MSF-B), established since the beginning of September with Kampungu - epicentre of the epidemics - had Friday evening five patients in his center of insulation.

?Three patients, including two very severe cases, are in total insulation, and two are convalescents?, declared with AFP Rosa Crestani, coordinator of the urgencies with MSF-B, joined to Kampungu by telephone.

These the last two days, two patients, members of the same family, died in this zone, it specified.

These last deaths change to 174 the number of died on nearly 400 announced cases of patients presenting of the symptoms of various diseases, of which Ebola, shigellosis, the typhoid one, of acute paludism or gastro-enteritises which have prevailed for more than four months in the area.

Mrs. Crestani ensured that in spite of difficult terms of employment, in a completely wedged zone and water lack, ?moral of the team (was the) good one?.

?The security instructions are very strict. All the looking after personnel, the technicians entering the zone at the risk of the center of insulation cover a combination covering the whole of the body?, it explained.

?We have also a psychologist, to support the patients and their families, but as the members of our team?, it continued, adding as the nearest installation of laboratories would make it possible to have ?for the first time? an idea of the extent of the epidemic.

Specialists in the CDC (Center for Disease Control) of Atlanta (the United States) and national Agency of public health of Canada will install two laboratories, one in Mweka and the other in Luebo (to 15 km of Kampungu), specified Mrs. Salvi.

?The materials are in the course of routing. As soon as they arrive, it will be enough to a few hours to assemble the laboratories, probably Sunday or Monday. Then, a precise diagnosis could be obtained between two and six hours?, it specified.

If the number of patients decreased these last days, Mrs. Salvi warned against any hasty conclusion, because it could be a question of a remission for one incubation period (15 to 21 days for Ebola). To be certain to dam up the disease, it would be necessary to be able to count and to treat all the cases of contact which the patients had, she underlined.

Moreover, a case of suspect death of Ebola was announced these last days to close Eastern Kasa?.

Very contagious, the hemorrhagic fever Ebola already struck ex-Zaire twice. The virus holds its name of a river of the province of Ecuador (north-western), where it was located for the first time in 1976.

It had killed this year nearly 500 people on both sides of the border between Sudan and ex-Zaire (become since the DRC). It r??merg? in 1979 in Sudan, then again in Zaire in 1995, where it had made 245 died in the province of Bandundu (western). :tiphat:
http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=15480

Treyfish · Sep 22, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Bandundu: Ebola announced to close Kasa? worries the population
Bandundu | September 22, 2007 with 15:40: 56

The provincial authority launches a call to vigilance with all the frontier localities with the province of Kasa? Occidental. But the governor Richard Ndambu draws aside any idea of setting in quarantine not to frustrate the population, reports radiookapi.net

?We joined together with more than two recoveries the committee of crisis and that of monitoring of the epidemiologic diseases. What led us to make a message with all the administrators of the territory, in particular those who are frontier with Kasa? Occidental, Oshwe, Gungu, Idiofa, so that they make useful provisions to detect suspect cases and to quickly announce them to the health services?, indicate the governor.

The provincial authority refuses however to make a setting in quarantine for the moment. It is necessary, advises it, to educate people, to supervise their movements and to make useful provisions for suspect cases. ?If a barrier is put, that will create an agitation within the population. What is not good?, the governor concludes.
For their part, the Angolan authorities of the province of Lunda-Norte set up measurements of control of the migratory movements, mainly in the frontier municipalities with Kasa? Occidental, indicates the agency Angola Presse. Tanzania worries, it also of this epidemic. The authorities of this country call the populations living in the areas close to the DRC to vigilance.:tiphat: http://www.radiookapi.net/index.php?i=53&a=14659

Gert van der Hoek · Sep 22, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

plain machine translation

Confirmation of an epidemic of typhoid in the province of Western Kasa?

Regional Integrated Networks Information

CURRENT EVENTS
September 21, 2007
Published on the Web on September 22, 2007
Nairobi

Five cases of typhoid fever were confirmed in Kampungu, in the province of Kasa? Occidental, in democratic Republic of Congo, where investigations on cases of Ebola fever are currently in hand, a representative of the World Health Organization announced.

?We see several causes with the cases of diseases and of deaths which were announced?, Gregory Hartl affirmed, responsible for communication of WHO, on September 20.

?We cannot say how much people suffer from such or such disease?, it added. ?The operations are difficult to carry out because we face several diseases at the same time?.

Laboratories were installed in the province to make it possible to establish immediate diagnoses, and a room of insulation will open soon its doors with Kampungu. It is envisaged to open of them others in the areas of Mweka and Luebo.

?For the moment, we do not have a complete sight of the epidemic to allow us to determine the number of real cases?, it indicated, adding that all the cases of Ebola fever had been isolated to stop the propagation of the disease.

According to the WHO, statistics' recently published by various sources made state of 375 cases, including 167 mortals, in the province of Kasa? Occidental, but the causes were not confirmed yet. Only one case of Shigella and less than 10 cases of Ebola fever was confirmed.

With believing Mr. Hartl of it, the risk of propagation of the Ebola fever in the close countries is relatively weak.

On September 19, the Tanzanian medical authorities had called the populations living in the areas close to the democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to remain vigilant, following the epidemic of hemorrhagic fever Ebola in this country of central Africa.

?All the regional medical authorities had to remain vigilant, because inhabitants of the Eastern areas of the DRC penetrate in Tanzania?, indicated Wilson Mukama, the permanent secretary of the Department of Health and Human services.

Approximately 1.850 cases, of which more than 1.200 mortals, were listed since the virus of the Ebola fever was identified for the first time in the Western province of Equatoria, in Sudan, and in an area close to DRC in 1976, after the serious epidemics which had prevailed in Yambuku, in the north of the DRC, and in Nzara, in South-Sudan.

http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200709220007.html

Treyfish · Sep 23, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Knowing the serious consequences of the fever ?Ebola?, which are the measurements taken by the government to safeguard the still healthy population?
Hits: 620
Guy, Firenze, Italy, 18 September 2007

Radiookapi.net: A committee of crisis had been set up to organize the repression of the epidemic. As of the identification of the disease, the government decided to increase centers of insulation, to prepare kits of fast tracking, and to explain the importance of measurements of hygiene to the populations exposed to the disease. The national Minister for Health also exhorted the population to be implied in the eradication of the virus. The provincial Minister for health announced this Monday September 17 the installation of safety belts around the territory of Kamiji and the level of all the localities making border with Kasa? Occidental. In Mwene Ditu, a monitoring system is also set up for the migratory follow-up of flow of all the people who arrive in station and by all the other ways.:tiphat: www.Radiookapi.net

Treyfish · Sep 24, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Congo-Kinshasa: Ebola Cases Suspected in Kasai Oriental

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UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
24 September 2007
Posted to the web 24 September 2007
Kinshasa
Two cases of suspected Ebola haemorrhagic fever have been reported in Kasai Oriental, the neighbouring province to Kasai Occidental, where at least nine cases have been confirmed, according to health officials.
"We received samples from two suspected cases in the village of Mwene Ditu that have been sent to the laboratory in the United States," Benoit Kebela, the secretary-general in the ministry of health, said. Mwene Ditu is 100km south of Mbuji Mayi, the main town in the province.

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"We are awaiting the diagnosis of the samples sent to the laboratory," Kebela said.
Kebela said the suspect cases were not directly related to the epidemic that had affected hundreds of people in the village of Kampungu, in Kasai Occidental. Kampungu and its environs have been quarantined by the government to contain the outbreak.
Although figures released by various sources mention 375 cases and 167 deaths in western Kasai Province, the causes cannot be confirmed yet. Only one case of Shigella, which causes dysentery, and fewer than 10 of Ebola, have been confirmed, according to the UN World Health Organisation (WHO).
"This is not the first time that we have had cases of fever associated with bleeding which are not Ebola,"

:magnify: Kebela said.
Typhoid fever is endemic in the Congo and manifests with bleeding just like meningitis, which occurs in many parts in the country, Kebela said. Five cases of typhoid fever were confirmed in Kampungu where investigations for Ebola are ongoing.
The high number of suspect cases was attributable to panic not only in Kasai Occidental but throughout the country,

Kebela said.
So far, health teams from the WHO, the health ministry and other organisations are working in the affected areas where they have set up laboratories and isolation wards.
A team of Canadian health experts from Winnipeg also arrived in Kampungu on 20 September to set up a mobile laboratory, according to a spokesperson with the WHO, Christiana Salvi.
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"The mobile laboratory will allow us to conduct diagnoses in two to six hours to avoid confusion with other diseases such as Shigella or typhoid which are also circulating at the same time [as Ebola] in the region," Salvi said.
Approximately 1,850 cases, with more than 1,200 deaths, have been documented since the Ebola virus was first identified in the western equatorial province of Sudan and in a nearby region of DRC in 1976, after significant epidemics in Yambuku, northern DRC, and Nzara in Southern Sudan.:tiphat: http://allafrica.com/stories/200709240884.html

Treyfish · Sep 24, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

same story http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LRON-77CJA6?OpenDocument

Treyfish · Sep 24, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Rwanda: Ebola - Minister Says Citizens Are Safe

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New Times (Kigali)
23 September 2007
Posted to the web 24 September 2007
Ignatius Ssuuna
Kigali
Rwandans living along the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border are safe from the deadly Ebola virus, State Minister in charge of HIV/Aids and other Infectious Diseases, Innocent Nyaruhirira has said.
"What I can say is that our people are safe. The screening exercise is continuous," Nyaruhirira said.

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed nine further cases of the deadly Ebola virus in the DRC where at least 174 people (all in the West Kasai region) have died in the latest outbreak.
The Health ministry is currently vetting all people entering the country from DRC following the outbreak of Ebola, deadly haemorrhagic fever which kills 80 percent of its patients. Nyaruhirira said officials from the ministry are visiting the border points tomorrow to assess the situation.
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Symptoms of the epidemic that were first identified in the region on April 27 are high temperature, bloody diarrhoea and visible haemorrhaging. There is no known cure for Ebola, and 90 percent of its patients die, according to scientists.
The virus is thought to be transmitted through the consumption of infected bush meat and can also be spread by contact with the blood secretions of infected people.
DR Congo's last major Ebola outbreak killed more than 200 people in 1995 in Kikwit, about 400km (250 miles) west of the current outbreak.:tiphat: http://allafrica.com/stories/200709240875.html

Treyfish · Sep 24, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="95%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2 height=25>[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]WEST KASAI: NEW CASES OF EBOLA, TYPHOID FEVER AND SHIGELLOSIS[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>

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</TD><TD width=400>[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]Miscellaneous, Brief[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=3>

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[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]?Another four cases of Ebola were identified, bringing the overall number in the southern and western regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo to nine?, confirmed to MISNA Benoit Kebela, secretary general of Kinshasa?s Health ministry, indicating that a laboratory has been set up in the Mweka region to monitor the outbreak. ?We have also individuated five cases of typhoid fever and one of Shigellosis, and we are currently analysing blood samples from the 174 dead so far?. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are some 400 cases of infection, presenting symptoms of acute diarrhoea, fever and haemorrhages. DR-Congo was theatre in the past to a vast outbreak of Ebola and Marburg, deadly haemorrhagic fevers causes by viruses that attack the central nerve system. The last Ebola outbreak was in the city of Kikwit in 195, resulting in the death of 245. :tiphat: [/FONT]

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http://www.misna.org/default.asp?IDLingua=1

Treyfish · Sep 24, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

An older story dated today.Snips from various stories in french.Ebola would make from now on rage in both Kasa?!
Kinshasa, 24/09/2007/Company
:tiphat: http://www.digitalco

ngo.net/article/46900

Treyfish · Sep 24, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Ebola would make rage in the two Kasa? !

Kinshasa, 9/24/2007 / Society
<DFN>It is therefore Ebola. The virus that remained not identified in the province of the Western Kasa? is known henceforth.</DFN>

Samples of faeces and blood sent at the INRB national -institute of biomedical research for the suitable analyses abroad, notably to the United States (University of Atlanta) and to Gabon to the biologic laboratory of Franceville made state of hemorrhagic fever due to the virus of Ebola.

" The last balance that we have is of 169 deaths for 376 recorded cases (against 166 for 372 September 12). It is necessary to take these numbers with precaution. There are symptoms that can correspond to different illnesses and we don't yet know what is the size of Ebola or the shigellose ", declared to the Afp, Dr Beno?t Kebelo, Secretary General to the Health.

The government actively " searched for all people who could have been in contact with patients who present symptoms of Ebola or the shigellose. It is about about hundred people, notably in the zone of Kampungu, epicenter of epidemics (to about 300 km of the capital provincial Kananga ", declared the physician.

Two types of epidemics

We have currently in this zone two types of epidemics : Ebola viral hemorrhagic fever, against which there is not a treatment and that is deadly in 80% of cases, and a bloody diarrhea accompanied by headache that corresponds to the shigellose, for which it exists an antibiotic treatment ", he specified. On September 14, the person responsible underlined that since the beginning of this crisis, end April 2007, only five cases of Ebola and one of shigellose (illness) had been identified positively in the international laboratories.

The first symptoms of these epidemics were identify from April 27 in the region of Kampungu, on Kananga-Luebo-Mweka line, a region separate from western Kasa?. End August, beginning September, after the confirmation of a first case of Ebola, World Physicians - Belgium (WHO-B), that was established to Kampungu already, began to reinforce its teams there and the world organization of Health (WHO) rushed an important delegation of Geneva, as well as medicines and the protective kits for the nurses teams.

" We installed a centre of isolation there, next to the centre of health of Kampungu. Thursday evening, we had three patients in a serious state, in total isolation, and two in moderate surveillance. Six another one, convalescent, come back every day for a follow-up ", declared to the Afp Sylvaine Lonlas, medical coordinator of WHO-B, World Physicians- Belgium, in DRC.

From his side, the ministry of Health reinforced his presence in the region, with " about hundred personals including physicians, nurses, logistics and team of information. " Our priority is to make aware the population, to avoid movements of panic, to prevent crowds as for example at the time of mourning and to make so that all suspected case is immediately routed toward a centre of health ", explained the Dr Kebelo, adding that his teams had notably need - of bicycles " to run all the zone around Kampungu ".

Transfer

The CDC (Center for Disease Control) of Atlanta - that identified one of the first cases of Ebola - should send an epidemiologist quickly and to install there a laboratory, to permit a more precise diagnosis of pathologies, one has learned from several medical sources. During this time, the virus would have transferred in the Western Kasa? - for the Oriental Kasa?, notably in the city of Mweneditu where one signalled the suspected cases bound to hemorrhagic fever, child of 12 years died there for it. The oriental part of Kasa? is victim of movements of population.

This epidemic constitutes a real threat for the public health of populations of this province of the centre of the country. In DRC where all the sanitary system is to redo, if Ebola is not mastered quickly, the risks of propagation toward other provinces of the country are real.

(CKS)
Last edited: 9/24/2007 5:35:26 PM:tiphat: http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/46900

Treyfish · Sep 24, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - CONGO DR (07)

A ProMED-mail post

Date: Sun 23 Sep 2007
Source: US Today online, Associated Press (AP) report [edited]
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-09-22-ebola_N.htm>

Four more cases of Ebola [hemorrhagic fever] have been identified in Congo,
bringing the total of confirmed cases to 9, officials said on Saturday [22
Sep 2007].

The outbreak in Congo [Kasai Occidental province of The Democratic Republic
of the Congo - Mod.CP] is the 1st major resurgence of Ebola in years. At
least 167 people have died -- though it is not clear how many of Ebola --
in the affected region of Kasai Occidental [province] over the past 4
months, and nearly 400 have fallen ill, according to Congolese health
officials.

Christiana Salvi, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization effort in
Congo, said that the newest cases came from the same zone as the original
confirmed samples. She added that some of the 40-odd samples sent for
testing have been negative for Ebola but positive for other [infectious]
diseases like shigellosis -- a diarrhea-like disease -- or typhoid. Results
from dozens more samples have yet to be released. Congolese health
officials said Friday [21 Sep 2007] that they suspected the disease had
spread to a neighboring province [Kasai Oriental - Mod.CP] and were sending
samples from 2 people for testing.

Ebola quickly kills up to 90 per cent of those infected, through massive
blood loss, and has no cure or treatment. It is spread through direct
contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person or with objects
that have been contaminated with infected secretions. Congo's last major
Ebola outbreak struck in Kikwit in 1995, killing 245 people. Kikwit is
about 185 miles (300 km) from the site of the current outbreak. WHO says
more than 1000 people have died of Ebola since the virus was 1st identified
in 1976 in Sudan and Congo. Primates, hunted by many central Africans for
food, can carry the virus.

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

[The true extent of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever outbreak is still obscure.
An Agence France Presse report of 21 Sep 2007 quoting a UN source
<http://www.who.int/mediacentre/en/> has also reported 9 cases of Ebola
haemorrhagic fever in Kasai Occidental province, 5 confirmed cases of
shigella dysentery and one confirmed case of typhoid. The results of
another 45 samples were still pending. - Mod.CP]:tiphat:
http://tinyurl.com/2zaup9

Gert van der Hoek · Sep 24, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Ebola Cases Suspected in Kasai Oriental

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks

24 September 2007

Kinshasa

Two cases of suspected Ebola haemorrhagic fever have been reported in Kasai Oriental, the neighbouring province to Kasai Occidental, where at least nine cases have been confirmed, according to health officials.

"We received samples from two suspected cases in the village of Mwene Ditu that have been sent to the laboratory in the United States," Benoit Kebela, the secretary-general in the ministry of health, said. Mwene Ditu is 100km south of Mbuji Mayi, the main town in the province.

"We are awaiting the diagnosis of the samples sent to the laboratory," Kebela said.

Kebela said the suspect cases were not directly related to the epidemic that had affected hundreds of people in the village of Kampungu, in Kasai Occidental. Kampungu and its environs have been quarantined by the government to contain the outbreak.

Although figures released by various sources mention 375 cases and 167 deaths in western Kasai Province, the causes cannot be confirmed yet. Only one case of Shigella, which causes dysentery, and fewer than 10 of Ebola, have been confirmed, according to the UN World Health Organisation (WHO).

"This is not the first time that we have had cases of fever associated with bleeding which are not Ebola," Kebela said.

Typhoid fever is endemic in the Congo and manifests with bleeding just like meningitis, which occurs in many parts in the country, Kebela said. Five cases of typhoid fever were confirmed in Kampungu where investigations for Ebola are ongoing.

The high number of suspect cases was attributable to panic not only in Kasai Occidental but throughout the country, Kebela said.

So far, health teams from the WHO, the health ministry and other organisations are working in the affected areas where they have set up laboratories and isolation wards.

A team of Canadian health experts from Winnipeg also arrived in Kampungu on 20 September to set up a mobile laboratory, according to a spokesperson with the WHO, Christiana Salvi.

"The mobile laboratory will allow us to conduct diagnoses in two to six hours to avoid confusion with other diseases such as Shigella or typhoid which are also circulating at the same time [as Ebola] in the region," Salvi said.

Approximately 1,850 cases, with more than 1,200 deaths, have been documented since the Ebola virus was first identified in the western equatorial province of Sudan and in a nearby region of DRC in 1976, after significant epidemics in Yambuku, northern DRC, and Nzara in Southern Sudan.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200709240884.html

Treyfish · Sep 25, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Kananga: Laboratories of detection of Ebola installed in Luebo and Mweka
Western Kasa? | September 25, 2007 with 10:02: 47

The installation of the laboratories began Monday. The first samples of the virus will be analyzed as from this Tuesday. The provincial medical inspection encourages the population to redouble vigilance to fight against the epidemic, brings back radiookapi.net

These materials will be installed at the protesting hospital of the CPP of Lwebo and at hospital SNCC of Mweka. Dr. Tumba Tshitoka, Minister provincial for health, affirms that the samples taken on the suspect cases of other zones of health will be sent in these laboratories for analysis. In the event of identification of the virus, the tracking of all the people come into contact with the patient will follow to check if there were contamination.

The provincial Minister for health encourages the population not to lower the arms. He stresses that a contaminated person can transmit the disease without still presenting of them the symptoms itself. He calls the population with a responsible attitude EM raising all the suspect cases of the people with strong fever, abdominal diarrhoea and pains. The minister requires that the people coming from Kapumbu, epicentre of the epidemic, remain in observation during 21 days. It is the incubation period of the virus.:tiphat:

http://www.radiookapi.net/index.php?i=53&a=14693

FrenchieGirl · Sep 25, 2007

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

Re: Congo - Ebola - 160 dead - WHO Experts In Congo To Study Mysterious Disease

From AP in French:

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/ap/20070925/twl-oms-congo-ebola-d407853.html

Quick translation:

Geneva - Eight new highly pathogenic Ebola cases have been detected in the Congo, which brings the number of infected persons to 17, the World Health Organization announced on Tuesday.

Theses cases were confirmed by the Atlanta CDC, according to WHO spokeperson Ms Fadela Chaib.

It's the first important reoccurrence of Ebola for many years. Usually Ebola kills over 90% of the people infected. According to WHO, more than 1000 persons have died from this illness since it was identified in 1976 in the Sudan and the Congo. Monkeys, which are hunted for their meat, can also be carriers for the virus.

Congo: huit nouveaux cas du virus Ebola confirm?s, selon l'OMS

GENEVE - Huit nouveaux cas du virus Ebola hautement pathog?ne ont ?t? d?tect?s au Congo, ce qui porte ? 17 le nombre de personnes officiellement contamin?es dans le pays, a annonc? mardi l'Organisation mondiale de la sant? (OMS).

Ces cas ont ?t? confirm?s par le Centre de contr?le et de pr?vention des maladies d'Atlanta, selon la porte-parole de l'OMS ? Gen?ve Fadela Chaib.

C'est la premi?re r?apparition importante du virus Ebola depuis des ann?es au Congo.

Ebola tue en moyenne plus de 90% des personnes qu'il infecte. Il n'existe pas de traitement efficace. Selon l'OMS, plus de 1.000 personnes ont succomb? au virus depuis son identification en 1976 au Soudan et au Congo. Les singes, chass?s pour leur viande en Afrique centrale, peuvent ?galement ?tre porteurs du virus. AP

Congo - Ebola - 183 deaths + 187 suspected cases

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