The November 2003
Democratic Republic of Congo
Ebola Outbreak
Last update: 12/12/03
The follwing articles are in chronological order.
Sunday, 16 November, 2003, 9:32 GMT
from the CNN News
(original
article)
Ebola is highly contagious and deadly
Authorities said 13 cases of the highly contagious disease had been identified and movement throughout the area was being closely monitored.
The same region was quarantined in 2002, when an outbreak of Ebola - for which there is no cure - killed more than 100 people.
"Samples taken from the victims and analysed in a specialised centre... proved positive," Mr Moka said.
Ebola passes quickly from person to person, through bodily fluids such as mucus, saliva and blood.
It causes massive internal haemorrhaging and leads to death in as many as 90% of those who become infected.
Tuesday, 25 November, 2003, 19:23 GMT
from the CNN News
(original
article)
One hundred and sixty-four people have come into contact with the disease around Mbomo, some 700 km (440 miles) northwest of the central African nation's capital Brazzaville and just across the border from Gabon, Tele-Congo said on Monday night.
Teams from Congo Republic's health ministry, the World Health Organization and aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres were in the Mbomo region trying to break the chain of contamination.
There is no known cure for Ebola, which is passed on by infected body fluids and kills between 50 and 90 percent of victims depending on the strain.
The disease damages blood vessels and can cause bleeding, diarrhea and shock. Its worst outbreak, in 1995, killed more than 250 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Officials believe the latest outbreak, first reported earlier this month, started after a group of hunters ate a dead boar they found in the forest.
Scientists think the previous Ebola outbreak in the region, known as Cuvette-Ouest, was caused by the consumption of infected monkey meat. Bushmeat is a staple among forest communities and a delicacy in many cities.
Many locals, however, believe occult forces are behind the spread of the disease. They have recently blamed Red Cross workers for conjuring up the virus through black magic.
During the previous outbreak, villagers stoned and beat to death four teachers accused of casting a spell to cause the disease.
Mon Dec 8, 12:05 PM ET
Reuters via Yahoo News
(original
article)
BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - An outbreak of the Ebola ( news
-web sites ) virus has killed 29 people in northwestern Congo Republic,
where the disease killed 120 earlier this year, a senior official at
the country's health ministry said on Monday.
Formerly known as Zaire.
"Right now the death toll in Mbomo is 29," Bernard Mantele told Reuters, adding that the percentage of people developing the disease after coming into contact with an infected person was also rising.
State television said late last month 164 people had come into contact with the disease around Mbomo, some 440 miles northwest of the central African country's capital Brazzaville and just across the border from Gabon.
Teams from the health ministry, the World Health Organization and aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres have been sent to the Mbomo region, known as Cuvette-Ouest, to try to break the chain of contamination.
There is no known cure for Ebola, which is passed on by infected body fluids and kills between 50 and 90 percent of victims depending on the strain.
The disease damages blood vessels and can cause bleeding and diarrhea. Its worst outbreak, in 1995, killed more than 250 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Officials believe the latest outbreak, first reported last month, started after a group of hunters ate a dead boar in the forest. Bushmeat is a staple among forest communities and a delicacy in many cities.
Ebola outbreak in Congo grows to 47 cases
Dec 9, 2003 (CIDRAP News)
The WHO first confirmed the outbreak Nov 17, when 11 cases, all fatal, were reported. The WHO's latest update, issued Dec 3, reported 11 new cases and 10 deaths since the previous update on Nov 25. The outbreak is in the Mbomo District of the Cuvette Ouest Department, in the northwestern part of the Congo.
WHO officials said 97 contacts of Ebola patients were being followed up. A team of experts from WHO headquarters in Geneva and the WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network joined a WHO team already in the outbreak area to help with surveillance, containment, and diagnostic efforts, the organization said.
Churches, schools and government offices have been shuttered, and public gatherings banned. Mobile speaker systems were being rushed in to broadcast instructions to people in their homes.
Government and WHO experts have taken blood from victims to determine if the disease is Ebola.
Moka said some villagers terrified by medical experts in gleaming head-to-toe protective suit have scattered into the jungle, complicating quarantine efforts.
"Right now, the teams are having a lot of trouble working with the villagers, who believe the disease is a terrible curse. The population doesn't believe in Ebola," Moka said. "And when they see the men in the white suits, they flee."
WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the agency was not aware of the quarantine and would advise against it. "Ebola quarantines haven't been found to be effective," he said.
The outbreak is centered in the Cuvette West towns of Mbomo, Kelle and Yembelangoye.
Ebola generally kills rapidly, meaning the disease burns out
before
it can spread great distances. WHO says more than 1,000 people have
died
of Ebola since the virus was first identified in 1976.
NAIROBI, 12 Dec 2003 (IRIN) -
(original article)
According to Damaze Bozongo, director-general of the health ministry, since 2 December, no further deaths had been registered in either Mbomo or Mbanza, two villages that were among the worst-affected in Cuvette Ouest, 800 km north of the capital, Brazzaville.
The World Health Organization (WHO) meanwhile reported that other suspect cases were still under investigation, while 47 people who came into contact with infected individuals were being monitored. It added that surveillance and social mobilisation activities were also continuing.
WHO said the current outbreak originated in Mbanza, some 15 km from Mbomo, when a family consumed a dead wild boar they had found in the forest, with the first death occurring on 16 October.
On 14 November, the Congolese Ministry of Health, together with WHO, confirmed that the outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome in Mbomo District was, in fact, the Ebola virus.
On 5 June 2003, the last outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome, which was determined to have been the Ebola virus, was declared over by the health ministry. According to WHO, 128 people of 143 confirmed cases died during that epidemic, which ensued following the handling and consumption of dead gorillas.
Wed 17 December, 2003 17:42
(original article)
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization on Wednesday said the latest Ebola outbreak in the Congo Republic was under control but warned the deadly virus could return, perhaps striking a major city.
There are now no active cases of Ebola in the Congo Republic, where the highly contagious virus claimed 29 lives in the northwestern Mbomo region in the latest outbreak, WHO's Ebola expert Pierre Formenty told journalists.
The last person to die of the virus was on December 3.
If no new cases emerge before mid-January, the epidemic can be officially declared over, said WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng.
Formenty said health officials were not lowering their guard against the virus, which proves fatal in 90 percent of cases because of its potential to spread quickly via body fluids.
"Part of our worries are that there could be a big epidemic. There is a potential danger that if a virus like this were deployed in a big urban center in Africa, for example, it could have a huge effect," he said.
The previous outbreak in the same region in February claimed 120 lives. Gabon also saw outbreaks in 2001 and 2002.
The virus is first contracted by humans coming into contact with infected animals, usually through eating bushmeat, commonly from apes, gorillas, chimpanzees or monkeys. Bushmeat is a staple for some villagers and is considered a delicacy in some African cities.
There is no known cure for Ebola fever, first identified in 1976. Symptoms include fever, weakness and muscle pain followed by vomiting, diarrhea, reduced liver and kidney functions and internal and external bleeding.