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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

CONGO: Government confirms haemorrhagic fever outbreak to be Ebola

BRAZZAVILLE, 19 February 2003 (IRIN) - The government of the Republic of Congo has officially declared the cause of the suspected acute haemorrhagic fever epidemic in Cuvette Ouest Region to be Ebola.

Laboratory testing carried out at the Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville, Gabon, has confirmed the diagnosis of Ebola in clinical samples, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports.

As at Tuesday, 73 suspected cases and 59 deaths from Ebola had been reported in the districts of Mbomo and Kelle in Cuvette Ouest Region.

The government has asked the WHO to help it control the outbreak. The WHO has reported that a team, including epidemiologists and social mobilisation experts from WHO and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, arrived in Cuvette Ouest, while experts in clinical management will be joining them in the area shortly.

On 13 February the government in Brazzaville quarantined Cuvette Ouest due to an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever, suspected to be caused by the Ebola virus.

Emergency measures the government announced in an effort to contain the situation have, so far, included the dispatch of mobile radio stations to inform local populations about Ebola; closure of all schools in affected zones; distribution of small transistor radios to families throughout the region to enable people to receive instructions about the epidemic; prohibition of public gatherings and movement between villages; and deployment of additional medical teams.

Authorities were first alerted to a possible Ebola outbreak when a band of gorillas in the region began dying. Tests carried out on the bodies confirmed that they had died of Ebola, and the disease has now claimed more than 80 percent of the band. The current outbreak is believed to have been caused by villagers eating primates infected by Ebola.

Ebola is a haemorrhagic fever transmitted through direct contact with body fluids of infected persons or other primates. There is no cure, and between 50 percent and 90 percent of victims die.

Themes: (IRIN) Health & Nutrition

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This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2003