The Congo was about due for a repeat & it apparently has now struck in the same region which earlier this year had an outbreak. This still makes news because of the incredibly high mortality rate & the fact that in spite of decades now of education on how NOT to contract Ebola - it's still happening once the first cases show up. The practices involved in preparing bodies for burial amplify the case load as does lack of proper barrier equiment in hospitals/care settings.
My reason for pointing out this new outbreak - yet to be confirmed btw - is that a prototype vaccine recently announced MAY be tested here. I haven't read that anywhere but part of the announcement on the nex vax was that in the next outbreak - it would be tied on health care workers on a trial basis. I'll look for something official.
The post:
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,23358
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Ebola suspected in death of 7 in Republic of Congo
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7 people have died in the Republic of Congo from what could be another outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, health ministry officials said Wednesday. The 7 died 31 Oct 2003 in the remote northern Cuvette West region, which was struck by Ebola earlier this year.
5 members of a single family died 31 Oct 2003 in Mbanza, about 900 kilometres (550 miles) north east of the capital, Brazzaville. 2 nurses who treated them at a clinic in the nearby village of Mbomo also died. A health ministry letter sent to the World Health Organization, obtained by the Associated Press, said the victims displayed symptoms of a hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola. Public health chief Damase Bozongo said it was not yet clear what caused the deaths and the presence of Ebola had not been confirmed.
The health ministry letter, which said 15 cases were reported in all, called on the World Health Organization to donate supplies for a team of Congolese specialists headed Thursday to the area to determine why the 7 died.
In June 2003, Republic of Congo authorities announced the end of an Ebola epidemic that killed more than 120 people in the same Cuvette West region, located in the central African nation's northern forests. That epidemic, believed to have been sparked by contact with infected gorilla flesh -- consumed in many parts of Africa -- broke out in January.
The viral disease is one of the world's deadliest, causing rapid death through massive blood loss in up to 90 per cent of those infected. Ebola spreads through bodily fluids, generally kills rapidly, and has so far afflicted remote regions of Africa, meaning the disease has burned out before spreading great distances.
WHO says more than 1000 people have died of Ebola since the virus was first identified in 1976 in western Sudan and in a region of neighboring Congo.***
My reason for pointing out this new outbreak - yet to be confirmed btw - is that a prototype vaccine recently announced MAY be tested here. I haven't read that anywhere but part of the announcement on the nex vax was that in the next outbreak - it would be tied on health care workers on a trial basis. I'll look for something official.
The post:
http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus..._BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,23358
***
Ebola suspected in death of 7 in Republic of Congo
--------------------------------------------------
7 people have died in the Republic of Congo from what could be another outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, health ministry officials said Wednesday. The 7 died 31 Oct 2003 in the remote northern Cuvette West region, which was struck by Ebola earlier this year.
5 members of a single family died 31 Oct 2003 in Mbanza, about 900 kilometres (550 miles) north east of the capital, Brazzaville. 2 nurses who treated them at a clinic in the nearby village of Mbomo also died. A health ministry letter sent to the World Health Organization, obtained by the Associated Press, said the victims displayed symptoms of a hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola. Public health chief Damase Bozongo said it was not yet clear what caused the deaths and the presence of Ebola had not been confirmed.
The health ministry letter, which said 15 cases were reported in all, called on the World Health Organization to donate supplies for a team of Congolese specialists headed Thursday to the area to determine why the 7 died.
In June 2003, Republic of Congo authorities announced the end of an Ebola epidemic that killed more than 120 people in the same Cuvette West region, located in the central African nation's northern forests. That epidemic, believed to have been sparked by contact with infected gorilla flesh -- consumed in many parts of Africa -- broke out in January.
The viral disease is one of the world's deadliest, causing rapid death through massive blood loss in up to 90 per cent of those infected. Ebola spreads through bodily fluids, generally kills rapidly, and has so far afflicted remote regions of Africa, meaning the disease has burned out before spreading great distances.
WHO says more than 1000 people have died of Ebola since the virus was first identified in 1976 in western Sudan and in a region of neighboring Congo.***
