BBC, September 12

An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been confirmed by the World Health Organization in Kasai province.

At least 166 people have died and WHO says it is aware of 372 other cases.

Specialist laboratories in Gabon and Atlanta in the US confirmed Ebola from blood samples, saying they also showed the presence of Shigella dysentery.

Ebola is highly contagious. People contracting the disease suffer severe stomach pain and internal bleeding.

The fatality rate for Ebola, which has no known cure, is as high as 90%.

WHO and Medecins sans Frontieres have despatched medical personnel to help the Congolese contain the outbreak.

Congo's Ebola Outbreak Could Be Worst in Years

By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, September 19, 2007; A19

JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 18 -- International medical personnel and supplies are being airlifted to a remote region of central Congo to combat what threatens to become the world's most serious outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in years.

Only nine cases of the disease have been confirmed by laboratory tests. But medical authorities suspect the virus has killed 168 people and sickened 375 others across a heavily forested region where villages are linked only by deeply rutted dirt roads. Health officials said it is possible that new cases will continue to emerge over the coming months.

"It's a serious outbreak," said Peter H. Kilmarx, an official with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who toured the area last weekend. "Every day there is a new town with a reported suspect case."

The outbreak's epicenter, which is serviced by a dirt-and-grass airstrip, consists of three towns in Congo's Kasai Occidental province, but the affected area appears to stretch for more than 100 miles.

Kilmarx, speaking from the Congolese capital of Kinshasa, said that one village market he visited had been abandoned and that many Congolese in the area appeared reluctant to shake hands for fear of contracting the highly contagious disease.

Efforts to control ebola depend on identifying and isolating those who are infected. There is no cure, and many who contract the virus die, typically from acute flu-like symptoms such as high fever, headaches and diarrhea. Hemorrhaging also is common, and bodily fluids containing the virus are the main source of transmission. In previous outbreaks, caretakers and those involved in burying victims were particularly susceptible.

"The only thing you can do is isolate the patient and avoid other infections," said Josep Prior, the top official with Doctors Without Borders in Congo, speaking from Kinshasa. "It's quite shocking. It's not easy to endure such a thing."

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U.N. finds typhoid in Congo amid Ebola outbreak
20 Sep 2007 09:46:26 GMT
Source: Reuters

GENEVA, Sept 20 (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.

Congolese no longer kiss as Ebola seems to spread
20 Sep 2007 16:40:50 GMT

By Joe Bavier

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).

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