November 30, 2007
Completely different Ebola….
Posted by voiceoffreedom under Disease, Disease Outbreaks, Education, Food, Science | Tags: africa, bats, Disease, disease outbreak, ebola, heamorrhagic, hemorrhagic, outbreak, reston, virus, zaire |Ebola confirmed as killer virus in Uganda
A virus that killed 16 people and infected more than 50 others in
western Uganda has been confirmed as Ebola, the health ministry said
Thursday [29 Nov 2007]. The deadly virus was confirmed in samples
flown to a laboratory in Atlanta in the United States, the ministry
said. “We have been on the ground and we are deploying more people to
manage the situation,” said Sam Zaramba, the country’s top medical
official.
Zaramba said the first case was reported on November 10 in Bundibugyo
district on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
where three patients were currently in an isolation ward. “It is a
dangerous disease as is any other haemorrhagic fever, but the WHO
(World Health Organisation) and officials from CDC (Centre for
Disease Control) are working with us to remain in control of the
situation,” Zaramba explained.
An outbreak of Ebola, a highly contagious disease that can have
fatality rates as high as 90 percent, killed at least 170 people in
northern Uganda in 2000. It spreads by direct human contact,
especially through blood contact. A similar Ebola outbreak killed at
least 26 people in DR Congo’s West Kasai region in recent weeks,
according to the country’s Health Minister Victor Makwenge Kaput. The
WHO says Ebola has killed at least 1200 people since it was first
discovered in DRC and Sudan in 1976.
–
From ProMed.
[The most striking feature of this report is the statement that: "the
Ebola strain identified in the western enclave is completely
different from the four known sub types of [Ebola/heamorrhagic fever
[virus], namely; Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Reston (that only
affects monkeys) and Ebola Tai (Ivory Coast)”. Further information is
awaited concerning the origin of the outbreak and any relationship
with mining operations or proximity to bat colonies.
December 3, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Source: World Health Organisaation (WHO), CSR, Disease Outbreak News [edited]
Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Uganda
———————————————-
The Ministry of Health (MoH), Uganda, has confirmed an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, in Bundibugyo District, western Uganda.
As of Thu 28 Nov 2007, 51 suspected cases, including 16 deaths have been reported. Among the reported cases, 3 health care workers were also infected, including one fatality. The patients are being hospitalized at Kikyo and Bundibugyo.
Laboratory analysis undertaken at the National Reference Laboratories
and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta,
USA, has confirmed the presence of a
new species of Ebola virus
in samples taken from cases associated with the outbreak.
December 3, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Soutce: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ajc.com [edited]
New Ebola virus discovered by CDC
———————————————-
Inside high-containment laboratories on Clifton Road in Atlanta, GA,
scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
this week [26-30 Nov 2007] identified what appears to be a new strain
of the deadly Ebola virus. A team of CDC disease detectives on Friday
[30 Nov 2007] was preparing to travel to a remote area in western
Uganda to help contain an outbreak that so far involves 51 people,
including 16 who have died.
“The most important consideration is to have a sense of what’s been
going on with the outbreak: How many people are affected, where and
when the outbreak is moving, and trying to stop transmission,” said
Dr. Eileen Farnon, the CDC epidemiologist who will be part of a
5-member field team assisting the Uganda Ministry of Health.
Dr. Thomas Ksiazek, chief of CDC’s Special Pathogens Branch, said
Friday it’s not yet known whether the Ebola virus causing the current
outbreak in Uganda’s Bundibugyo District is any more or less deadly
than the 4 previously known strains. “There is very little
information about the eventual outcome in the cases] that have been
confirmed so far,” Ksiazek said. Ebola, an often-fatal hemorrhagic
fever, causes internal and external bleeding in its victims. Both
humans and non-human primates can be infected.
Samples arrived at CDC’s Biosafety Level 4 labs in Atlanta on Monday
[26 Nov 20007]. By Tuesday [27 Nov 2007], Ksiazek said, it was
apparent this was not a typical Ebola virus. Dr. Stuart Nichol, a CDC
special pathogens team leader, said some molecular tests for Ebola
were coming back negative, when another type of test came back
positive. The CDC lab was then able to extract a small fragment of
the virus’ genome. “It looks, based on this, like it’s a new species
of Ebola,” Nichol said Friday evening. Previously, there were only 4
known types of Ebola. The Sudan and Zaire species were discovered in
1976. A strain called Reston was identified in 1989 among monkeys
imported to a lab in Virginia. And in 1994, the Ivory Coast strain
was identified. Depending on the strain, the death rate varies.
Ebola-Zaire kills about 80 percent of its victims, while the Sudan
strain kills about 50 percent, Ksiazek said. Ebola Reston is not
lethal for humans. - Mod.CP]
[Byline: Alison Young]
December 3, 2007 at 5:36 pm
PProMED-mail
[More information about this new epidemic of Ebola fever is
unfolding. The 1st case dates back to August 2007 and has been
associated circumstantially with feasting on goat meat. Hemorrhage is
not a prominent feature of the disease. The outbreak in the
Bundibugyo District is extending and now involves at least 14
villages. The death toll now stands at 18, and the number of cases is
now 61. An as yet unconfirmed case has appeared at a location 160 km
to the south. The epidemic situation is fluid, and new cases may
begin to appear outside the Bundibugyo District.
An interactive map of the Bundibugyo region of Western Uganda can be
accessed at: http://www.maplandia.com/uganda/bundibugyo/