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Published Date: 2007-09-12 23:57:07
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR (02)
Archive Number: 20070912.3026

EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - CONGO DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (02)
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Date: Tue 11 Sep 2007
Source: allAfrica.com [edited] / WHO CSR announcement
<http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200709120501.html>

The Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC) has confirmed an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, in the
province of Kasai Occidental. Laboratory analysis undertaken at the
Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville (CIRMF),
Gabon, and at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
Atlanta, USA, has confirmed the presence of Ebola virus in samples
taken from cases associated with the outbreak. Laboratory tests
conducted by Institut National de Recherches Biologiques (INRB) in
Kinshasa on urine and blood samples collected from suspected cases,
have also confirmed the presence of _Shigella dysentery_ type 1,
further complicating operations while case definitions and clinical
descriptions, particularly in response to rehydration and antibiotic
treatment, support a possible concurrent outbreak of another etiology.
As of 11 Sep 2007, the WHO is aware of 372 cases and 166 deaths
associated with the ongoing event in the province. Additional samples
have been taken for further laboratory analysis.
The WHO Country Office, Regional Office and Headquarters are
supporting the MoH in Kinshasa and in the field at the location of
the outbreak. Additional staff, outbreak response equipment and
supplies, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are being
sent to the area. A enhanced team of national and international
experts is being mobilized to implement control strategies for Ebola
haemorrhagic fever and to support outbreak field response in the
province. Medecins Sans Frontieres (Belgium) has deployed clinicians,
water and sanitation experts and logisticians to the area and has
established appropriate isolation facilities.
A request for additional support has been sent to the Global Outbreak
Alert and Response Network in the areas of clinical case management
and infection control, surveillance and field epidemiology, risk
communications and social mobilization, and outbreak response logistics.
The WHO is also working with the INRB, CIRMF, CDC, Atlanta and the
Public Health Agency of Canada laboratory in Winnipeg to ensure the
MoH is provided with comprehensive laboratory support in the control
and investigation of the outbreak. The WHO advises that there is no
indication of the need for any restrictions on travel or trade with
the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
[Note that the above report is verbatim from the report found on the
WHO Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response website available at:
<http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_09_11/en/index.html>. - Mod.MPP]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
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[The apparent case fatality rate (CFR) is 45 percent, lower than what
one would expect for Ebola hemorrhagic fever. However, since there is
a simultaneous outbreak of shigellosis dysentery going on, the total
number of cases reported above may include non-Ebola virus cases,
lowering the apparent CFR. Given the remoteness of the area and the
difficulty in providing comprehensive laboratory support,
determination of the actual Ebola CFR may not be possible. Sequencing
of the Ebola virus involved in this outbreak will be interesting to
determine if it is most similar to Ebola-Zaire or Ebola-Sudan, or
significantly different from either. ProMED thanks Brent Barrett,
Coulibaly Sidi (by way of Mod.LM), and Otavio Silva (by way of
Mod.JW), Henry Huang and Joe Dudley for providing similar reports.
A map of the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be accessed at:
<http://encarta.msn.com/map_701511809/Congo_(DRC).html> - Mod.TY]

Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR: 20070910.2996
Undiagnosed illness - Congo DR (Kasai Occidental): WHO, RFI 20070901.2882
Viral hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR (Kasai Occidental): susp. 20070829.2837
2006
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Ebola, primates - Congo Rep.: 20061208.3462
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Gabon/Congo Rep: prediction 20061119.3308
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR: susp. 20060315.0806
2005
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Ebola virus, bats - Central Africa 20051201.3467
Ebola Zaire virus - Africa: wave-like spread 20051029.3158
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo Rep. (07) 20050622.1756
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo Rep. 20050520.1382
Undiagnosed deaths - Congo Rep. (04): Ebola confirmed 20050518.1358
Undiagnosed deaths - Congo Rep. (03): Ebola susp 20050514.1321
Ebola hemorrhagic fever, wildlife - Gabon/Congo Rep. 20050215.0511
2004
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Ebola, primates - Congo Rep.: susp. 20040827.2400
2003
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Ebola hemorrhagic fever, apes - Congo Rep. (04) 20030404.0824
Ebola hemorrhagic fever, apes - Congo Rep. (03) 20030321.0705
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo Rep. (17) 20030310.0587
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo Rep. (16) 20030307.0565
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo Rep. (15) 20030304.0543
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo Rep. (12) 20030227.0489
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo Rep: suspected 20030205.0315
2002
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Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Gabon: suspected 20020624.4593
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo Rep: confirmed 20020613.4492
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Gabon/Congo Rep (05) 20020107.3189
2001
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Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Gabon: dead wildlife (03) 20011220.3079
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Gabon: dead wildlife 20011216.3041
Viral hemorrhagic fever, suspected - Congo, DR (03) 20011210.2991
..................mpp/ty/ejp/mpp
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