- (Reuters) -- A town at the centre of an outbreak of Ebola
haemorrhagic fever in the Republic of Congo has been cordoned off but the
number of cases of the deadly disease had not changed, a World Health Organisation
(WHO) official said on Thursday (5-19-5).
-
- "The head of the district has placed Etoumbi in
quarantine. Nothing goes in or out of the locality anymore, and the government
will bring food for the population from tomorrow," said Adamou Yada,
WHO's representative in Congo. The latest outbreak of the viral infection
has already killed 9 people since the end of April 2005 in the forested
northwestern Cuvette-Ouest region, where nearly 150 people died from Ebola
haemorrhagic fever in 2003. Neighbouring Gabon also had outbreaks in 2001
and 2002.
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- Yada said 2 other people infected with the [virus] appeared
to be recovering. He said the number of people being monitored for the
disease had dropped to 65 from around 80. 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. Ebola damages blood vessels
and can cause bleeding, diarrhoea and shock.
-
- The worst outbreak (of Ebola), in 1995, killed more than
250 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo [formerly Zaire]. "I
hope this epidemic will be the shortest we have known in Cuvette-Ouest,
simply because the local people have taken precautions since the very beginning,"
Yada said, adding that information campaigns appeared to be bearing fruit.
-
- Scientists think past outbreaks in Cuvette-Ouest, near
the border with Gabon, were caused by the consumption of infected monkey
meat. Bushmeat is a staple among forest communities in West and Central
Africa and a delicacy in many cities. In the Sangha region bordering Cuvette-Ouest,
local authorities urged people to report anyone seen selling or transporting
meat from primates. People who reported infractions would get a portion
of the fine levied on the culprits.
-
-
- Republic Of Congo - Outbreak Of Ebola Fever
Attributed To Consumption Of Bushmeat
-
- BBC News
5-23-5
-
- The town at the centre of an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic
fever virus in Congo has been sealed off to stop the disease spreading,
health officials say. 9 people have died in the north-western town of Etoumbi,
near forests where there have been at least 3 Ebola outbreaks in recent
years.
-
- World Health Organization Congo director Amadou Yada
said food would be delivered to the town on Friday [20 May 2005]. "The
head of the district has placed Etoumbi in quarantine. Nothing goes in
or out of the locality anymore," Dr Yada said. He said that no more
cases had been reported in recent days. "I hope this epidemic will
be the shortest we have known in Cuvette West, simply because the local
people have taken precautions since the very beginning," he said.
-
- The outbreak began when villagers went to the forest
to hunt elephants and came across the body of a dead chimpanzee, which
they took home to eat, before becoming sick, officials say. The BBC's Christian
Tsoumou in the Congo capital, Brazzaville, says that most people in the
forest area are hunters and bushmeat is seen as a delicacy.
-
- He says that after previous Ebola outbreaks in the area,
the authorities have told people not to touch dead animals they find, but
few people take any notice. Ebola is highly contagious and is spread through
body fluids, such as blood and sweat. In 2003, 120 people died from Ebola
in Cuvette West.
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- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases"
message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
Go with God and in Good Health
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