Disease fears spread in Africa

2005-03-30 12:36

Luanda - At least three African nations are on alert after an outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus claimed a record toll in Angola, as a senior official in the worst-affected area on Wednesday accused Luanda of apathy.

Health alerts have been issued in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which borders Angola and where the second highest number of deaths due to the virus was previously recorded, in Congo-Brazzaville and as far as the eastern African country of Kenya.

Kenya's health ministry said earlier on Wednesday it had set up a system at the country's two main airports in Nairobi and Mombasa to screen passengers arriving from Angola.

An alert was issued to all hospitals and clinics in Kenya, which recorded three cases of the disease in the 1980s. Angola's neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) went on high alert on Tuesday, issuing protective kits.

Hospital closed down

Congo has also stepped up health controls along its border with DRC in order to reduce the possibility of the outbreak spreading, the health ministry said.

Meanwhile, Quiala Godi, the number two health official in the northern Angolan town of Uige - the epicentre of the virus - was critical of Luanda's response.

"We have reached the peak of the Marburg epidemic. What worries me is the lack of support from the government. We haven't received a single government team here in Uige," Godi said.

"The hospital is closed," he said speaking of the sole health facility there. "Even the emergency services are shut down. Here everything is politicised. Only international experts from the World Health Organisation and the Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) are here."

A severe form of haemorrhagic fever akin to Ebola, the Marburg virus was first identified in 1967. It spreads on contact with the fluids the body produces in reaction to it, such as blood, urine, excrement, vomit and saliva.

Godi said there were four more deaths on Tuesday - two in Uige and two at the nearby town of Negage about 30km away - which take the unofficial toll to 130.

Provincial health official Godi meanwhile heaped scorn on government criticism.

"These are people who simply talk. The entire team sent by the health ministry has left leaving only international experts on the spot."

Luanda's provincial health director Vita Mvemba on Monday appealed for international assistance, saying the southern African country, which only recently emerged from a brutal 27-year civil war, had only 1 200 doctors nationwide.

Three-quarters of the deaths in Angola have been children under the age of five, according to the WHO, but the virus has also started to claim adult victims since it erupted in October.

- AFP