Fourteen deaths recorded in Congo Ebola outbreak
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported Wednesday, as of 3 September 2012, a total of 28 (eight confirmed, six probable, and 14 suspected) cases including 14 deaths had been reported from Haut-Uélé district in Province Orientale. The reported cases and deaths have occurred in two health zones – 18 cases, including 11 deaths in Isiro and 10 cases, including three deaths in Viadana. The fatal cases in Isiro include three health-care workers.
According to the WHO, the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not related to the outbreak last month in neighboring Uganda.
The two Ebola outbreaks are not epidemiologically linked and have been caused by two different Ebola subtypes says the WHO.
There are five identified subtypes of Ebola virus. The subtypes have been named after the location they have been first detected in Ebola outbreaks. Three subtypes of the five have been associated with large Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreaks in Africa. Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan and Ebola-Bundibugyo. EHF is a febrile haemorrhagic illness which causes death in 25-90% of all cases. The Ebola Reston species, found in the Philippines, can infect humans, but no illness or death in humans has been reported to date.
Ebola is one of the most virulent viral diseases on earth. It’s transmitted through contact with blood or bodily fluids of an infected person or wild animal.
Ebola virus Image/CDC
[…] months after an Ebola outbreak in the country, which ended Nov. 26, 2012. That outbreak, with its epicenter in Isiro, resulted in 62 cases and 34 […]