EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE - CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (03): (EQUATEUR) CONFIRMED *************************************************************************** A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases ***** [1] Date: 24 Aug 2014 Source BBC Online [Edited] The Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed that an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in the north of the country has been identified as Ebola. Health Minister Felix Numbi told the BBC that tests on two people had confirmed the disease in Equateur province, where 13 had already died. But he said the deaths occurred in an isolated area and the disease seemed a different strain to West Africas. Dr Numbi said a quarantine zone was being set up to contain the disease. The cases are the first reported outside West Africa since the outbreak there began. There is no known cure but some affected people have recovered after being given an experimental drug, ZMapp. However, supplies are now exhausted. -- Communicated by: Ryan McGinnis ***** [2] Date: 24 Aug 2014 AFP from Medical Express [Edited] DR Congo confirms first Ebola cases (Update) -------------------------- The Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday confirmed its two first cases of Ebola this year, but claimed they were unrelated to the epidemic raging in four countries of West Africa. The UNs World Health Organization also announced that one of its health experts, an epidemiologist, had been infected while working in Sierra Leone. In Kinshasa, Congolese Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi said that two of eight samples taken from victims of a mystery fever had tested positive for Ebola. The results are positive. The Ebola virus is confirmed in DRC, Kabange told AFP. Speaking later on public television, he said the confirmation marked the seventh outbreak of Ebola in DR Congo, where the virus was first identified in 1976 near the Ebola River. But he said the two new cases had no link to [the epidemic] raging in West Africa and were different strains from one another. Authorities immediately imposed a quarantine around the affected area in Equateur province near Jera, more than 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) northeast of the Congolese capital Kinshasa. -- Communicated by: ProMED-mail Rapporteur Kunihiko Iizuka [This outbreak initially reported as suspected has now been confirmed. Sporadic and sometimes large Ebola virus disease outbreaks have occurred in this region dating back at least to the discovery of the virus. Its appearance in a remote area without the likelihood of communication with the West African region indicates the low likelihood that this outbreak is related to the large outbreak there. Like most outbreaks of Ebola virus disease in this region, we suspect it arises from exposure to wildlife, then via care of persons suffering from the illness or to their bodies postmortem. It is not clear whether statements that a different strain of Ebola virus is involved are based on the lower case fatality rate seen in the DRC outbreak or on laboratory data. Further information would be greatly appreciated. - Mod.LM A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: .]
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 08:14:48 +0000
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