BBC : Outbreak ! Ebola ? - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[M_B_S]

Wednesday, 12 February, 2003, 15:07 GMT
Congo gets `Ebola` samples


Ebola has killed hundreds of people in central Africa

At least 48 people are now known to have died in a suspected outbreak of Ebola in the north of Congo-Brazzaville, near the border with Gabon.
There is no cure for Ebola, which causes up to 95% of its victims to bleed to death.


The authorities in Brazzaville have not yet been unable to confirm the virus is the cause of the deaths.

But the ministry of health says it has now obtained blood samples from five of the deceased.

At first inhabitants of the villages of Kelle and Mbomo where people have been dying daily in recent weeks, refused to co-operate with emergency teams from the ministry of health and the World Health Organisation (WHO), sent to investigate a possible Ebola outbreak.


Instead they accused the health teams of bringing the virus to the area themselves, and refused to give blood samples from their dead.

Wild game

The samples have been sent from Kelle and Mbomo, 800 kilometres north of the capital, Brazzaville, to a laboratory in Libreville, Gabon, and results of the Ebola tests are expected within the next five days.


Doctors say the virus can spread through infected bush meat

In the meantime, the ministry of health and the WHO are treating the deaths as a confirmed Ebola outbreak and taking measures to contain the spread of the virus, which is easily passed by contact with body fluids and between humans and animals.

The ministry says its emergency teams have now succeeded in convincing inhabitants of the area to stay away from church and not to travel.

The teams are also trying to stop people in the region from eating wild game such as gorilla, gazelle and antelope.

These are among the animals which have been dying off in the surrounding forest and have already tested positive for Ebola.

Ebola killed 43 people in Congo and 53 others in neighbouring Gabon between October 2001 and February 2002.

The WHO says more than 1,000 people have died of Ebola since the virus was first identified in 1976 in western Sudan and in a nearby region of Congo.

[Karl]

so traurig es ist, das passiert dort alle paar jahre einmal und man kann eigentlich nix dagegen tun.

[M_B_S]

Congolese flee Ebola scare


Thousands of people have fled a town in one of the two areas of Congo-Brazzaville most affected by the Ebola virus, which in the last two months has killed more than 80 people.
The BBC`s Pascale Harter travelled to the town of Kelle - near the border with Gabon - to find it completely deserted.

She says the town`s inhabitants fled after a witch-doctor told them they would all be dead in four days.

The World Health Organisation has been holding meetings with local leaders trying to raise awareness about what causes Ebola - in particular the dangers of eating wild animals or touching the bodies of whose who have died of the disease.

Hiding

Our correspondent told the BBC`s Focus on Africa programme that about 2,000 of Kelle`s inhabitants had gone into hiding.

She says it is a tense and frightening atmosphere - everyone is nervous about getting Ebola.

The disease begins with high fever, diarrhoea, bleeding from the nose and gums, and can eventually induce massive internal haemorrhages.


Doctors say the virus can spread through infected bush meat
But our correspondent says there is a great level of misunderstanding among the population about what causes it.

Four teachers have been killed by a mob after being accused of causing the outbreak.

And people have been unwilling to seek medical help - only about five people have been hospitalised and one is showing signs of pulling through.

The WHO has appealed for international aid to cover the costly isolation techniques used in containing the Ebola virus as well as securing food for the population.

The Congolese Government has already appealed to the United Nations World Food Programme for help.

But the WFP has warned that it was already hopelessly overstretched in providing food aid for 60,000 people who have fled ongoing fighting in the Pool Region of Congo.