Congo - Ebola - 183 deaths + 187 suspected cases

Treyfish · Sep 18, 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

hat tip:tiphat: K from MI Kenya: Brace for the Deadly Ebola, Kenyans Warned
The Nation (Nairobi)

19 September 2007
Posted to the web 18 September 2007

Nairobi

Ebola, the dreaded disease and whose cure is yet to be discovered, could be rearing its head in the country.

The full disclosure is, however, expected on Thursday when the Ministry of Health presents a statement in the House as requested by Kuresoi MP Moses Cheboi (Kanu).

Health Assistant minister Wilfred Machage told MPs that it was possible that Ebola has struck in parts of Nakuru District in Kuresoi constituency.

He said that the deaths of two women in the area under bizarre circumstances could either be attributed to Ebola or Rift Valley Fever. "There is likelihood that it is Ebola but I will bring more information on Thursday when I give the comprehensive ministerial statement on the issue," he said.

Dr Machage was responding to a request for a ministerial statement by Mr Cheboi who wanted to know the kind of disease which could have struck his constituency following the deaths of two women.

The Assistant minister said that the ministry had received reports about the deaths and had dispatched medical staff to the area to find out the cause. In the meantime, Dr Machage asked residents of the area not to eat meat from dead animals which he stated, could result in more deaths.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200709181163.htm

JJackson · Sep 19, 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

The BBC have picked up the story with a diary from a MSF worker in the field. They also have Typhoid in the mix.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7001506.stm

Treyfish · Sep 19, 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=629 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=3>Diary from DR Congo's Ebola frontline

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=416>Zoe Young of the medical NGO, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), shares her diary with the BBC News Website from the Democratic Republic of Congo where she is dealing with an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.
Since the first MSF team arrived in Kampungu at the beginning of September, 25 severe cases suspected to be Ebola haemorrhagic fever have been hospitalised at Kampungu's health centre. Of these, eight patients have already died. <HR>

When I got back into the MSF office last week after a holiday everyone was talking about a mystery disease in the Congo.
Apparently there had been lots of deaths, but it wasn't at all clear what it was.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

Zoe is a water and sanitation specialist with MSF

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
There were different theories in the office, and we had to wait for the results of tests on samples that were sent to three different labs for analysis.
In the meantime, we sent our DRC emergency team to Kampungu, one of the affected areas, to set up the temporary isolation ward.
The first result that came through was a positive for Shigella. Then, late last Monday, the results came through from the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta: some of the samples had tested positive for Ebola.
Everything changed straight away.
Exciting landing
MSF's Emergency Unit coordinated a meeting with our water and sanitation experts, epidemiologists, public health specialists and HR people to decide what equipment and staff to send.
I boarded a plane to Kinshasa, the capital of DRC, two days later.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5>

</TD><TD class=sibtbg>

Patients have to be treated very carefully and kept very separate from the community

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The seven of us travelled from Kinshasa to Kampungu on a 10-seater plane with a pilot who had a huge handlebar moustache.
The scenery was lovely: mile after mile of jungly forest which looked like tightly packed broccoli with the odd dead white tree reaching up above the canopy.
I didn't see the airstrip until the pilot lined the plane up: it just looked like a footpath on a bumpy field. It was quite an exciting landing.
As we got out of the plane crowds of children and interested adults pushed forward to see us and then followed us shouting, "Comment ca va? Comment tu t'appelles? Comment ca va?"... on and on.
The din was amazing, piercing.
'My job'
Then an hour's drive to Kampungu on roads that forced the car to tip right over on its side.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5>

</TD><TD class=sibtbg>

The overall effect on the outside is rather like a spacesuit - on the inside it's like a sauna

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
So, my job. Ebola is transmitted by contact with bodily fluids so patients have to be treated very carefully and kept very separate from the community.
We have set up a small isolation unit which is made up of a low risk part where we can change into protective clothing and then a high risk part which is where the patients are.
The building was part of the health centre before and has been surrounded by a low fence made of orange netting to keep people out (and to stop patients wandering off accidentally).
Four of us work in the isolation unit: a logistics expert who is responsible for building any new structures, beds, tables, fencing etc that we need; a nurse; a doctor and me, responsible for water and sanitation.
Marshmallows
We are slowly improving the wards for the patients, but everything takes ages since we have to dress up in full protective clothing before we can go in.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

The Ebola virus is deadly

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
We have head covers, enormous white overalls with elasticated wrists and ankles so that they puff out making us look like little marshmallows.
Two pairs of latex gloves, ski-type goggles, a duck beak mask and an apron. The overall effect on the outside is rather like a spacesuit.
On the inside it's like a sauna. Pouring with sweat takes on a new meaning.
The tiniest activity, like moving a patient or carrying a bed, causes sweat to cascade down my face.
Of course, I can't wipe it off as I am all covered and have no access to my skin until I disinfect and leave the high-risk part of the centre.
Brave and determined
We have some nursing staff that have been trained to work in the high-risk area and some Red Cross volunteers who disinfect and help move patients around.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=5>

</TD><TD class=sibtbg>

One of the patients died today

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
We are slowly increasing the numbers of staff but it takes time because we first have to find people who want to work with us and then we have to train them very carefully to make sure that they are safe inside the high-risk area and don't make mistakes that would put others in danger.
One of the patients died today.
He had been a nurse in the health centre. He was an inpatient for a few days and was very brave and determined to get better. Every morning he sat on a wicker chair on the balcony to see what was happening and once or twice did a runner to go home.
That was OK.
When he came back we went back to disinfect the hut that he had been in.
Wailing and crying
Anyway, today he died and so I went into his ward with two of the disinfectors to tidy him up and put him in a body bag.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

Special head-to-toe suits are worn to prevent contamination

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
This is important because it is possible to get infected even when people have died.
I was trying out a new kind of very waterproof body bag so I had a few teething problems trying to put him in but soon it was done and I left him on a bed while we waited for a coffin to be brought (I could see it being made through the window).
I could hear his family wailing and crying: they live in a house about 200m from the centre. I could see them from the window of the ward.
When the coffin was ready we brought out the patient and the intensity of the wailing increased.
We put the body bag into the coffin and then we put it on the back of the pick-up truck, which set off for the cemetery accompanied by the burial team.
I disinfected myself rapidly and ran to catch them up at the graveyard.
Hot work
There was a big patch of cleared ground with sticks lying on it. They told me that this was where all the other recent corpses had been put.
But there were no markers.
The grave was ready but there was no path alongside so that the coffin carriers couldn't get the coffin next to the grave without falling in.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

More than 200 people died in a previous Ebola outbreak in Kikwit

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
I shovelled along the grave to make it easier and then they inched forward.
The coffin started to fall so I wedged the shovel under it to hold it while they organised themselves and then they carefully lowered the coffin in.
I looked around expectantly for someone to shovel the earth back in.
Nobody around.
So, digging with our hands like badgers and with the single shovel, we backfilled the grave. Very hot work.
Some improvements to the burial procedures are definitely needed, I think, not least reassuring family members that it is perfectly safe once the person is in the coffin.
Long list
We are living in a large field that has been divided up with a campsite at one corner.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

Zoe trains the team's new staff

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Five of us are sleeping in one big tent on inch-thick mattresses, under mosquito nets suspended from strings stretched from one side of the tent to another.
I seem to have a small hill under my bed which is not disguised by my rather thin mattress so I sleep curled around it like a snake.
Every night we have a meeting after dinner, which is how I find out what is going on outside the isolation unit.
The teams are working out where there might be more patients and visiting neighbouring health centres, talking to the communities and authorities and gathering information.
It is becoming clearer where cases have come from in the past few months and they are trying to work out what is going to happen next.
Some samples have also tested positive for typhoid, so we now have three epidemics at the same time.
Tomorrow I need to make changes in the wards to try and get more water in there.
I need to train a new cleaning lady and some more Red Cross volunteers.
I need to disinfect the deceased person's house. I might try cementing up some holes in the ward floors to make cleaning better. Hmmmm - long list!

:tiphat:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7001506.stm

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

:tiphat: Dutchie Minister dispels fears of an Ebola outbreak

By Elizabeth Mwai and Beatrice Obwocha

The Government has allayed fears that the mysterious disease that claimed two lives in Rift Valley Province is the dreaded Ebola.

This calms anxiety that has gripped the country that the Ebola outbreak reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may have found its way to Kenya.

The deputy director of Medical Services, Dr Shahhanaaz Sharif, said the disease was not Ebola as there were no bleeding tendencies from the deceased.

Health Assistant minister Dr Wilfred Machage had on Tuesday told MPs that it was possible Ebola had struck parts of Nakuru District in Kuresoi constituency.

Machage had said the deaths of two women in the area in bizarre circumstances could either be attributed to Ebola or Rift Valley Fever.

Three women have died from the strange disease that has struck Rift Valley. Two of the women lived 15km apart while the third was a student. Sharif said the three patients had similar symptoms of headache, fever and pain in the joints. "There were no signs of bleeding from the three patients and we have ruled out a case of Ebola," Sharif said.

Speaking at a city hotel during the official opening of a communication workshop, Shariff said they ministry would issue a full report once the specimen collected have been tested.

Sharif explained that Ebola was characterised by severe bleeding and was transmitted through close contact.

He said initial indicators show that the three deaths could be attributed to malaria, but this had to be verified after tests were carried out.

Sharif blamed the delay in conducting the tests on poor roads that have complicated the transportation of the specimen.

The doctor said it was highly unlikely that the disease could have come to Kenya and skipped Uganda, which is closer to the DRC.

Meanwhile, another person succumbed to a disease with similar symptoms in Molo.

A 58-year-old man died in Sirikwa on Tuesday night, tens of kilometres away from where the two women died.

Rift Valley Province Medical Officer, Dr John Odondi, confirmed the death and said he had deployed inspectors to the affected areas

http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/ne...eid=1143974823

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Date: 20 Sep 2007

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever in Western Kasai DREF Bulletin No. MDRCD001



CHF 180,994 (USD 150,452 or EUR 110,094) has been allocated from the Federation?s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the National Society in delivering immediate assistance in affected areas of Western Kasai Province.
Unearmarked funds to repay DREF are encouraged.
This operation is expected to be implemented over 3 months, and will therefore be completed by end of December 2007; a Final Report will be made available three months after the end of the operation.
The situation
On Monday, 10 September 2007, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) officially declared an Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever (EHF) (1) epidemic in the country. The confirmation followed laboratory tests conducted at the Centre International de Recherches M?dicales de Franceville (CIRMF) in Gabon and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, USA. Laboratory analyses of samples from eleven patients with suspected EHF cases and four people they had come into contact with revealed that six tested positive.
The area most affected by the epidemic extends 70 km from Makonoku ? in radius ? reaching Kampungu, Kaluamba and the surrounding villages of Mweka (2) and Luebo, all in Western Kasa? Province. In early June 2007, several people fell ill in Bena Ndongo (one of the seven villages surrounding Makonoku); they displayed symptoms such as fever, headaches, diarrhoea, colic and vomiting. They all died within one week; deaths were also recorded in Kampungu and Kaluamba. Additionally, some suspected cases have been reported in Kananga, the capital of the province, approximately 170 km from the most affected areas. The epidemic can potentially spread to other bordering zones and provinces.
On 18 August 2007, the central office of the health zone was informed of the situation by the nurse in charge of the Makonoku health post. The central office then dispatched two supervisors to assess the situation. Their report confirmed that 46 deaths had occurred (14 in Kampungu and 32 in Kaluamba). The deaths were reported in communities where health centres recorded the least attendance by patients.
From 20 to 25 August, 300 cases, with 82 deaths, had been registered. According to medical records, as at 11 September 2007, a total of 372 cases, with 166 deaths, had been reported; translating to a fatality rate of 44.6 per cent. One hundred and seven people were confirmed to have come into contact with the patients and these were followed up. Thirteen patients were admitted to hospital; four of them are recovering.
Notes
(1) Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) is one of the most virulent viral diseases known to humankind, causing death in 50-90% of all clinically ill cases. Several different species of Ebola virus have been identified. The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected persons. Source: WHO ? http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en/ (2) The population of Mweka is 140,000 people while Kananga, where a few suspected cases have been registered, has a population of 1 million people.

Full_Report (pdf* format - 643.6 Kbytes)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-778FYJ?OpenDocument

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

Two die in DRC - Ebola suspected Kinshasa - Two people have died from suspected cases of Ebola in central Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing to 172 the total number of victims over the past four months, officials said Wednesday.

"We have registered two deaths this week among the sick" in Kampungu, near the epicentre of the outbreak in the Western Kasai region, said provincial Health Minister Fortunat Ntumba.

Officials said there were 381 cases of either Ebola or shigellosis in the region. Ebola kills 50 to 90 percent of those it infects. For shigellosis the mortality rate is around 40 percent.

Ebola is an incurable disease characterised by massive internal bleeding, while the Shigella strand of infectious dysentery is treatable by antibiotics.
Ebola has killed some 452 people in the DRC since 1976, and 1 200 people across Africa in the same period. It last swept DR Congo in 1995, then known as Zaire, claiming 245 lives out of the 315 registered cases.

The survival rate can be increased by quarantine and swift treatment of symptoms.

The first cases of the latest outbreak were detected in April around the village of Kanungu, 300km from the provincial capital Kananga.:tiphat: http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=nw20070920124730366C548410

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

UN finds typhoid in Congo amid Ebola outbreak

Thu 20 Sep 2007, 8:48 GMT

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday said it had confirmed typhoid in the area of Democratic Republic of Congo where health experts are working to fight an outbreak of deadly Ebola haemorrhagic fever.
"We now have five confirmed cases of typhoid among the suspect cases in Kampungu," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
"One of the typhoid cases also tested positive for Ebola. This is proof that a lot of different disease events are going on, making it more complicated," he added
The number of confirmed Ebola cases in Kasai Occidental province had also risen to nine, according to Hartl.
Congo's government, citing test results from international laboratories, last week confirmed at least five cases of Ebola in the southern area, where more than 160 people have died and 352 fallen ill over four months.
The WHO has said it was not clear whether all the deaths were caused by Ebola and cited the presence of other diseases such as Shigella dysentery, which is borne by contaminated food or water. Typhoid fever, a bacterial disease spread through contaminated food or drink, can be treated with antibiotics.
Two mobile laboratories, lent by the United States and Canada, have been set up in affected villages to help identify cases, Hartl said.:tiphat: http://africa.reuters.com/country/CD/news/usnBAN035271.html

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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 haemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - update 2, 20 Sep 2007



The Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with the support of international partners, is continuing field investigations to determine the extent of the outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the Province of Kasai Occidental. Active surveillance is under way to investigate recent deaths in the affected communities, to identify other suspected cases and to follow-up on all contacts. Case numbers associated with the outbreak continue to rise and the situation has become further complicated by concomitant reports of cases of typhoid and Shigella dysenteriae type 1.
Isolation wards have been established in the area with the on-going support of a field team from M?decins Sans Fronti?res (Belgium). Additional isolation wards are also being established in three district hospitals. Epicentre has deployed an epidemiologist to support the MSF team in the field.
Outbreak response field teams are being strengthened and operational bases have been reinforced and established in three towns in the affected area. A central logistics platform is being finalized to provide support to local field communications, to put in place field accommodation facilities and to ensure basic living conditions. The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) is providing additional logistics support.
Epidemiologists, virologists, laboratory experts and logisticians from the MoH, WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) are in the field. Laboratory equipment and outbreak response materials are also being delivered by air with the assistance of MONUC, MSF-chartered flights, and by Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA World Health), an international non-governmental organization.
MONUC has also assisted WHO in deploying vehicles and other outbreak related response equipment from its Outbreak Logistics Mobility Unit in Dubai. Further shipments of Personal Protective Equipment and specialist communications equipment including satellite phones and radios are also being sent to the country.
Social mobilization activities are being implemented by national field teams with the support of the national Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and UNICEF. A medical anthropologist has been identified by the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Paris to work with the social mobilization teams to develop culturally appropriate information concerning Ebola and to ensure the population is provided with information to reduce the risk of transmission of the disease.
Experts in infection control from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the H?pital Cantonal in Geneva and WHO Headquarters are being deployed to strengthen infection control in the affected area. Precautions are also being put in place health care settings in areas beyond the outbreak zone to reduce the risk of any amplification of the outbreak.
Other partners from the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network are also providing support to the MoH, including the African Field Epidemiology Network, the Bernard Nocht Institute, the Centre International de Recherches M?dicales de Franceville, the European Centre for Disease Control, the Institute Pasteur, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the National University of Singapore, the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network Inc. and Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, USA. The WHO Country Office in Kinshasa has been strengthened to provide support to the MoH in responding to external requests for information on this outbreak.:tiphat:

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EGUA-778MQ4?OpenDocument
That's a big pile of gov't outfits there now!!

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

Congolese no longer kiss as Ebola seems to spread

Thu 20 Sep 2007, 15:40 GMT

KINSHASA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Villagers don't kiss anymore in a corner of Democratic Republic of Congo hit by the deadly and highly contagious Ebola virus.
People began falling ill in April in Kampungu, Western Kasai province, centre of an outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever that has no cure or treatment and kills 50-90 percent of its victims.
There have been 385 suspected cases of the disease, and 174 have died, though only a handful of cases have been confirmed.
"People no longer kiss each other when they meet. They don't even shake hands," Antoine Bushambu told Reuters by phone from the town of Mweka, around 60 km (37.5 miles) from Kampungu.
"Those are the instructions the doctors have given to the population. There's been a big change in behaviour," said Bushambu, who works for a Congolese human rights organisation.
In the past week, several suspect cases have been reported in Kananga, the capital of Western Kasai. The provincial health minister of neighbouring Eastern Kasai said on Thursday four more cases had been discovered there, raising fears the outbreak may be spreading beyond its rural confines.
But health officials suspect many deaths may be due to other illnesses like typhoid or Shigella, a bacterial infection.
"So far we have only nine confirmed cases of Ebola, but we don't really know about the rest. We want to have the correct origins of those illnesses," said Christiana Salvi, a spokeswoman for the U.N. World Health Organisation (WHO).

PUBLIC EDUCATION
Without reliable information -- something the WHO hopes will change with the arrival of a high-tech mobile laboratory this weekend -- health workers are struggling to staunch panic.
"There's been no public education or health education. The concept of disease in these places is so far away from the clinical one," Josep Prior, head of Doctors without Borders (MSF) mission in Congo, told Reuters.
"This is the difference between families hiding patients and people coming in for treatment ... It's extremely important."
Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with blood, body fluids and tissues of infected people. Towards the latter stages, victims become highly contagious and the disease can even be transferred through contact with bodies of the dead.
When a major Ebola outbreak hit the town of Kikwit in neighbouring Bandundu province in 1995, killing 250 people, many people are believed to have caught it during the traditional funeral rite of washing corpses, which led to entire families being wiped out despite awareness campaigns.
Health officials hope this time things will be different.
Congo's health ministry has begun circulating leaflets and posters in several languages, and airing radio and television adverts. Actors are even touring remote villages staging plays that warn of the dangers of Ebola.
"At least it show that people know what's going on and aware of the risks," Salvi said.
A quarantine zone is in place and officials say the disease is largely contained in Kampungu and nearby Luebo village.
But Bushambu said people miles away in Mweka are not taking any chances and age-old village traditions are changing.
"There are even those who bring their own cups to places where they drink palm wine. Before they used to share," he said. :tiphat: http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL20801216.html?rpc=401&

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

The situation map.can someone post it for me?:tiphat: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/AHAA-778NSE?OpenDocument

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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 the WHO Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - update 2

20 September 2007
The Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with the support of international partners, is continuing field investigations to determine the extent of the outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the Province of Kasai Occidental. Active surveillance is under way to investigate recent deaths in the affected communities, to identify other suspected cases and to follow-up on all contacts. Case numbers associated with the outbreak continue to rise and the situation has become further complicated by concomitant reports of cases of typhoid and Shigella dysenteriae type 1.
Isolation wards have been established in the area with the on-going support of a field team from M?decins Sans Fronti?res (Belgium). Additional isolation wards are also being established in three district hospitals. Epicentre has deployed an epidemiologist to support the MSF team in the field.
Outbreak response field teams are being strengthened and operational bases have been reinforced and established in three towns in the affected area. A central logistics platform is being finalized to provide support to local field communications, to put in place field accommodation facilities and to ensure basic living conditions. The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) is providing additional logistics support.
Epidemiologists, virologists, laboratory experts and logisticians from the MoH, WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) are in the field. Laboratory equipment and outbreak response materials are also being delivered by air with the assistance of MONUC, MSF-chartered flights, and by Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA World Health), an international non-governmental organization.
MONUC has also assisted WHO in deploying vehicles and other outbreak related response equipment from its Outbreak Logistics Mobility Unit in Dubai. Further shipments of Personal Protective Equipment and specialist communications equipment including satellite phones and radios are also being sent to the country.
Social mobilization activities are being implemented by national field teams with the support of the national Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and UNICEF. A medical anthropologist has been identified by the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Paris to work with the social mobilization teams to develop culturally appropriate information concerning Ebola and to ensure the population is provided with information to reduce the risk of transmission of the disease.
Experts in infection control from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the H?pital Cantonal in Geneva and WHO Headquarters are being deployed to strengthen infection control in the affected area. Precautions are also being put in place health care settings in areas beyond the outbreak zone to reduce the risk of any amplification of the outbreak.
Other partners from the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network are also providing support to the MoH, including the African Field Epidemiology Network, the Bernard Nocht Institute, the Centre International de Recherches M?dicales de Franceville, the European Centre for Disease Control, the Institute Pasteur, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the National University of Singapore, the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network Inc. and Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, USA.
The WHO Country Office in Kinshasa has been strengthened to provide support to the MoH in responding to external requests for information on this outbreak.:tiphat: http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_09_20/en/index.html

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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 class=story-top cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>DR Congo: Teams Provide Quicker Disease Diagnosis

Friday, 21 September 2007, 10:31 am
Press Release: United Nations </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

DR Congo: teams on ground to allow for quicker diagnosis of disease - UN

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners now have substantial teams in the field in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where nine cases of the deadly Ebola virus has been confirmed, it was announced today. "There will soon be two fully-functioning labs on the ground, which will allow for quicker diagnosis of disease," UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York.

Of some 400 cases of illness and 170 deaths reported since April in the western Kasai Province, nine cases of the haemorrhagic Ebola virus, which causes death in 50 to 90 per cent of cases, have been confirmed.
The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons or animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys and antelopes, and it has an incubation period of two to 21 days. Additionally, five cases of typhoid and one case of Shigella dysentery have been verified, Ms. Montas said. Results from the tests of 45 other samples are still pending.:tiphat: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0709/S00518.htm

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

:tiphat: Murphies 
http://allafrica.com/stories/200709201190.html

Kenya: Foreigners Being Screened for Ebola

The Nation (Nairobi)
21 September 2007
Posted to the web 20 September 2007
The Government has started screening foreigners from the Congo Basin for possible cases of ebola before they are allowed into the country.

Health assistant minister Wilfred Machage made the revelation as he stated that the two recent deaths in Kuresoi, Molo District were not caused by the ebola.

Dr Machage declared the country clean of the dreaded disease that has killed hundreds in the Congo Basin.

The assistant minister said initial tests by the medical team from Nakuru have shown that the deaths of the two women, one aged 22 years and another one 31, were caused by malaria.

This was in response to a point of clarification from Nominated MP Ruth Oniang'o (Kanu), who had wanted to know if the Government had put in place an anti-ebola strategy.Prof Oniang'o said that a number of cases of the disease had been recorded in parts of Tanzania, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kisumu Town East MP Gor Sunguh (Narc) urged the Government to put in place early warning measures to detect strange diseases, which have ravaged some parts of the world.

Dr Machage was giving a ministerial statement requested on Tuesday by Kuresoi MP Moses Cheboi (Kanu) on the deaths that had sent panic among his constituents.

The assistant minister said that a 17-year-old school girl, who was also suffering from a disease with similar symptoms of fever, headache, difficulties in breathing and chest congestion, was treated for malaria and had recovered.

Dr Machage said that they had put medical teams in the Rift Valley under alert and surveillance was high for any other case.

On Tuesday, Mr Cheboi raised a red flag on a strange disease he said had struck his constituency.

The disease, he said, had caused two deaths.

The two women who died, Mr Cheboi said, had bled from body joints, suffered chest congestion and experienced high temperatures.

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

Thanks Hawk, this stuff is gettin right serious

The professor just said Tanzania has ebola. Here is an article from last month calling it marburg fever.<TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD class=contentheading width="100%">Tanzania authorities issue alert over marburg fever </TD><TD class=buttonheading align=right width="100%">http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=30 </TD><TD class=buttonheading align=right width="100%">http://africasciencenews.org/asns/i...content&task=view&id=30&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=2 </TD><TD class=buttonheading align=right width="100%">http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform&id=30&itemid=2 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left width="70%" colSpan=2>Written by ASNS Tanzania Correspondent </TD></TR><TR><TD class=createdate vAlign=top colSpan=2>Friday, 17 August 2007 </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2>

Tanzanian authorities have issued an alert in the Lake Victoria region following the recent outbreak of the rare and highly fatal Marburg haemorrhagic fever in the in western Uganda`s Kamwenge district..:tiphat:

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=2

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

Kenya Says Rift Valley Fever Returns, Two Dead

:tiphat: Mother Abigail
KENYA: September 21, 2007

NAIROBI - Rift Valley fever has killed two women in Kenya, the government said on Thursday, raising fears of another outbreak of the disease that claimed more than 150 lives earlier this year.

Officials had first worried that the two women who died in Nakuru district, a tourist hotspot, had the Ebola virus, which broke out last week in nearby Democratic Republic of Congo.

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewss...44437/story.htm

hawkeye · Sep 20, 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

yes, it's very serious, thanks for all your hard work with keepring an eye on the situation. unfortunately, it seems the virus has been festering for months, which means the virus could be virtually anywhere at this point.

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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, the experts count on the support of the population
Western Kasa? | September 20, 2007 with 15:20: 01

The team of experts come from Canada and the USA, counts on the collaboration of the population of Mweka to fight against the epidemic. Doctor Gary Kobinger, one of the members of this team, calls the population with the compliance with the basic rules of hygiene, brings back radiookapi.net

Doctor Gary Kobinger specifies that on arrival of the equipment, 2 at 4 o'clock in time are largely sufficient for the starting of the operations.
He stresses that this material will make it possible to confirm or cancel presence of the Ebola virus in the area and on which level. And this, with the space from 3 to 4 a.m. after analysis of the samples. The doctor insists on the fact that the population would have earliest would be best, to contact the local authorities. He specifies that with a tracking carried out early, an adequate treatment would be possible.
According to the definition of the ministry for health, any case is known as suspect when a person presents strong fevers, diarrhoea and pains abdominal.:tiphat: http://www.radiookapi.net/index.php?i=53&a=14630

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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: Typhoid confirmed in western Kasai Province

<TABLE style="BORDER-RIGHT: #bbbbbb 1px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; BORDER-TOP: #cccccc 1px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; MARGIN: 2px 5px 8px 0px; BORDER-LEFT: #cccccc 1px solid; WIDTH: 120px; PADDING-TOP: 5px; BORDER-BOTTOM: #bbbbbb 1px solid; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #eeeeee" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="PADDING-TOP: 3px" align=right>

Photo: USIP

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=ImgCreditCaption style="FONT-SIZE: 7pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>NAIROBI, 20 September 2007 (IRIN) - Five cases of typhoid fever have been confirmed in Kampungu, western Kasai Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where investigations for Ebola are ongoing, a UN World Health Organization official said.

"We are seeing multiple causes for the reports of illness and death," Gregory Hartl, WHO communications advisor, said on 20 September.

"We are not able to say what proportion is suffering from what disease," he added. "The response is complicated because we are dealing with more than one disease."

Laboratories have been set up in the province for onsite diagnosis with an isolation ward being set up in Kampungu. There are plans to set up more wards in Mweka and Luebo areas.

"So far, we do not have the full epidemiological picture as to how many cases there really are," he said, adding that all cases of Ebola were being isolated in order to halt the spread of the disease.

According to the WHO, figures released by various sources mention 375 cases and 167 deaths in western Kasai Province, but the causes cannot be confirmed yet. Only one case of Shigella, and less than 10 of Ebola, have been confirmed.

According to Hartl, the risk of Ebola spreading to neighbouring countries was relatively low.

On 19 September, the Tanzanian health authorities sent out a warning of Ebola haemorrhagic fever to people living in regions neighbouring the DRC.

"All regional medical officers have been instructed to keep on alert because people from eastern parts of DRC enter into Tanzania," Wilson Mukama, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said.

Approximately 1,850 cases, with over 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://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74403

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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 fears spread of deadly virus<TABLE style="WIDTH: 405px; HEIGHT: 44px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=caption style="WIDTH: 360px">
September 21 2007 at 02:03AM </TD></TR><TR><TD style="HEIGHT: 1px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cccccc" colSpan=2></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=23 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=svarticletext>[SIZE=+1][/SIZE]Kinshasa - Another death from the Ebola virus has been reported in a new province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 170 people are now feared to have died from the disease in four months.

The new case was in East Kasai, a central province neighbouring the West Kasai where the latest outbreak was first reported.

There have been many deaths at a health centre in the East Kasai town of Mwene-Ditu in recent days and samples from one that showed Ebola-like symptoms are being studied in Kinshasa, said Benoit Kebelo, a doctor heading a government emergency response team.

Mwene-Ditu is around 180km south-east of Kananga, capital of West Kasai province, where five Ebola cases and one of Shigella were confirmed on September 11.

Kebolo told reporters that everyone should remain cautious about the cause of the latest death. He added that "increasing awareness" of Ebola among the population was leading to many reported symptoms that in most cases are not linked to the outbreak.

Two more patients died from Ebola and related illnesses this week around Kampungu, around 250km north-west of Kananga, and the centre of the new epidemic, Kebolo said.

These bring to 172 the number of confirmed dead out of 381 reported cases of patients suffering symptoms from various illnesses including Ebola, Shigella, which is similar, acute malaria or gastro-enteritis, according to a new World Health Organisation toll.

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

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

Around Kampungu, a WHO survey of the cases, shows a marked increase in the number of ill between August 22 and 31, with an average of 15 cases per day and a peak of 12 deaths on August 27.

In early September the spread of the diseases slowed. Over the past six days it fell to between one and two new registered cases a day, with only a maximum two deaths per day.

"It's encouraging, but we must still be prudent in analysing this reduction," Kebelo warned.

There is no certainty that the epidemic has ended, he added. It could be a remission during the incubation period for Ebola (15-21 days) "before a new explosion", he cautioned.

Meanwhile, a team of 10 WHO officials - including a virologist, three epidemiologists and Canadian specialists in setting up laboratories - have arrived in Kananga and will be operational next week analysing samples. - Sapa-AFP :tiphat: http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=nw20070920223204739C670802
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Treyfish · Sep 20, 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

Angola: Lunda Norte - Epidemiologic Vigilance Commission Set Up

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=180 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>

</TD><TD align=middle>http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>

</TD></TR><TR><TD rowSpan=2>

</TD><TD align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=180 bgColor=#e8e8ff border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left width=10 height=10></TD><TD bgColor=#e8e8ff></TD><TD vAlign=top align=right width=10 height=10>

</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#e8e8ff>

</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left width=160 bgColor=#e8e8ff>

</TD><TD bgColor=#e8e8ff>

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=bottom align=left width=10 height=10>

</TD><TD bgColor=#e8e8ff>

</TD><TD vAlign=bottom align=right width=10 height=10>

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Angola Press Agency (Luanda)
20 September 2007
Posted to the web 20 September 2007
Dundo
The government of the north-eastern Lunda Norte Province set up last Tuesday, in Dundo, an Epidemiologic Vigilance Commission to prevent and control the appearance of the Ebola epidemics in Angola, in view of the spread of this disease in the neighbouring DRC.
Speaking to the press at the end of the second extraordinary session of the provincial executive, the head of the local health sector, Sozinando Manzita Filipe, said that the authorities are taking the necessary measures, such as the reinforcement of the epidemiologic vigilance in areas with the highest risk, having into account the movement of people in the common border.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=right><SCRIPT language=JavaScript> GA_googleFillSlot("AllAfrica_Story_Inset");</SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://partner.googleadservices.com/gampad/ads?correlator=1190344078796&output=json_html&callback=_GA_googleAdEngine.setAdContentsBySlotForSync&impl=s&prev_afc=0&client=ca-pub-2420009840005975&slotname=AllAfrica_Story_Inset&page_slots=AllAfrica_Story_BannerBottom%2CAllAfrica_Story_BannerMid%2CAllAfrica_Story_BannerSubbody%2CAllAfrica_Story_Inset%2CAllAfrica_Story_Leaderboard%2CAllAfrica_Story_LeftA%2CAllAfrica_Story_LeftB%2CAllAfrica_Story_RightA%2CAllAfrica_Story_RightB%2CAllAfrica_Story_RightC&cust_params=language%3Denglish%26Topics%3Dhealth%26Countries%3Dangola%252Ccentralafr%252Ccongo_kins%252Csouthernaf&cookie_enabled=1&ga_vid=1289186491.1188621188&ga_sid=1190344052&ga_hid=206850893&ga_fc=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fallafrica.com%2Fstories%2F200709200439.html&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fallafrica.com%2Fcongo_kinshasa%2F&lmt=1190338634&dt=1190344081484&cc=26&u_h=600&u_w=800&u_ah=600&u_aw=800&u_cd=24&u_tz=-240&u_his=0&u_java=true&u_nplug=0&u_nmime=0"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

To avoid the entrance of this disease in Angola, he explained, the authorities have set up sub-commissions that have the mission of controlling the migratory movement, mainly in the municipalities of Chitato, Cambulo, Cuilo, Cuango e Caungula, since these localities are at the border with the DRC and close to that country's Western Kassai area, a region that is affected by the referred disease.
Among the measures announced by the provincial government includes the temporary suspension of transborder trade.:tiphat: http://allafrica.com/stories/200709200439.html

Congo - Ebola - 183 deaths + 187 suspected cases

Moderator

In Memoriam - Senior Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Well-known member

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator

Moderator