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Experts to probe Ebola outbreak
10/05/2005 23:09 - (SA)
Brazzaville - A disease has killed five people in northern Republic of Congo and medical experts will travel to the region to investigate whether a new Ebola outbreak has struck there, said health officials on Tuesday.
Damase Bozongo, one of the country's top health official said at least five people have succumbed to an as-yet unidentified illness this week in Cuvette West, where epidemiologists were scheduled to arrive on Wednesday to determine if the victims died from Ebola, an often deadly hemorrhagic fever.
Bozongo said: "Only lab results will allow us to give the genuine causes of the deaths."
Bozongo said the dead had shown some signs of haemorrhagic fever, but not the massive bleeding that was a hallmark of Ebola, which caused rapid death through blood loss in up to 90% of those infected.
Last year, 120 people died of Ebola in the same Cuvette region, bordering Gabon.
Bozongo also said none of the medical personnel who handled the dead had shown signs of Ebola, raising hopes another deadly outbreak could be averted.
Ebola spreads through bodily fluids, generally killed rapidly and had so far afflicted remote regions of Africa, meaning the disease had burned out before spreading great distances.
- SAPA
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