Marburg deaths 'slowing down'
2005-04-21 00:11
Luanda - Angolan health officials saidon Wednesday that the death toll from the Ebola-like Marburg virus was still climbing, 239, but at a slower rate as more citizens were joining mass efforts to stamp out the disease.
Out of a total 264 cases detected since October 13 in Angola, 239 people have died with the overwhelming number of fatalities in the northern Uige province where the death toll stood at 223, according to the health ministry and the WHO.
A total of 518 people were under observation of whom 406 were in Uige after coming in contact with the virus that can kill a person within a week.
"This trend towards a reduction in cases and deaths is due to the strong mobilisation of the population in the province of Uige," said health ministry spokesperson Carlos Alberto.
"We can't say that we have absolute control of the Marburg disease as long as there is even one case in the country," said the representative for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Angola, Diallo Fatoumata Binta.
"We must continue to work hard," she said.
Hostility
International health experts who converged on Angola in the wake of the outbreak have faced hostility and suspicion from the local population.
Teams of health workers who roam the city of Uige to find suspected cases of Marburg have been attacked by rock-throwing residents and international officials have sought help from local leaders to dispel the hostility.
In Luanda, the UN children's agency UNicef enlisted Boy Scouts in a drive to distribute pamphlets telling Angolans about protective measures against the virus.
"Any person who has had contact with a case, including having slept in the same bed for a month, having had physical contact or touched the clothing or the bed linen or the bodily secretions is contaminated," said the pamphlet.
Television and radio advertisements are urging Angolans who fear they may have come in contact with Marburg to seek help from health professionals who hold daily information sessions.
Until now, the most serious outbreak of the disease was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 123 people died between 1998 and 2000.