Published Date: 2001-12-11 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Gabon: WHO confirms
Archive Number: 20011211.3002
EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - GABON: WHO CONFIRMS
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See Also
Viral hemorrhagic fever, suspected - Gabon 20011205.2950Viral hemorrhagic fever, suspected - Gabon (06) 20011210.2994
2000
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Ebola hem. fever, asymptomatic - Gabon 1996 20000626.1062
1997
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Ebola, training in epidemic area, Gabon (03) 19970318.0577
Ebola - Gabon: cessation of outbreak (02) 19970305.0496
Ebola - Gabon: new outbreak (24) 19970209.0311
Ebola - Gabon: typing 19970122.0126
1996
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Ebola - Gabon 19960217.0320
Ebola - Gabon (14) 19961220.2123
Ebola - Gabon 1994 19960701.1193
Ebola - Gabon: new outbreak 19961011.1724
Ebola - Gabon: new outbreak (15) 19961224.2145
Ebola death reported - Gabon (Libreville) (03) 19961226.2156
Date: Tue 11 Dec 2001
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: WHO Disease Outbreaks Report, Tue 11 Dec 2001 [edited
Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Gabon - Update
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As of Tue 11 Dec 2001, WHO has received reports of 12 suspected cases,
including 10 deaths from haemorrhagic fever. Laboratory testing
carried out at the Centre International de Recherches Medicales de
Franceville (CIRMF), Gabon has confirmed Ebola virus in one sample
from a recovering case in Ogooue Ivindo Province.
The Gabon Ministry of Health has established a national task force for
managing the response to the epidemic. An international team from WHO
and its partners in the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network
arrived in Gabon today and will assist the Ministry of Health in:
- coordinating the international response to the outbreak,
- implementing disease control measures, such as barrier nursing
procedures,
- finding cases, tracing contacts and monitoring them, &
- supplying protective equipment.
Gabon's first verified Ebola outbreak occurred in December 1994.
Investigators studying the outbreak were told of unexplained deaths of
great apes, gorillas and chimpanzees, but no dead animals were found.
The outbreak ended 6 weeks later. In the spring and autumn of 1996, 2
other Ebola epidemics were confirmed. In early February 1996, about 40
km south (7 hours by boat) from the 1994 outbreak, 13 people became
ill after butchering a dead chimpanzee they had found. In October of
that year, another Ebola epidemic was confirmed in the same general
region and led to the introduction of the outbreak into South Africa,
where one person died [a nurse who cared for a patient from Gabon
hospitalized in Johannesburg. - Mod.JW.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[A previous WHO Disease Outbreaks Report dated Wed 5 Dec 2001 stated
without comment that on Tue 4 Dec 2001, WHO had received reports of 7
deaths in an outbreak of suspected viral haemorrhagic fever in Ogooue
Ivindo Province in the north-eastern part of Gabon. Today's statement
from WHO confirms earlier press reports of the laboratory diagnosis of
Ebola virus infection in one patient. - Mod.CP
........................cp/pg/jw
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