Angolan dies in Zimbabwe of suspected Ebola

SACBnews ^ | 12-28-03

[Neuromancer]

  Angolan dies in Zimbabwe of suspected Ebola

December 28, 2003, 02:45 PM

An Angolan man has died in Zimbabwe's prime north western resort town of Victoria Falls in a suspected case of the highly contagious Ebola disease, the official Sunday Mail reported.

The paper quoted the provincial medical director for the region as saying the patient, a cross border trader, died on Christmas Day after being admitted to hospital with symptoms consistent with the virus. If confirmed, it would be Zimbabwe's first case of the deadly virus, which kills up to 90% of infected people and for which there is no known cure. David Parirenyatwa, the health minister said samples from the man had been taken to South Africa for laboratory tests.

"At the moment it is only a suspected case and we will only know the cause of the death when we get laboratory test results," Parirenyatwa told the Sunday Mail.

Parirenyatwa and other Health Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment today. Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids and causes illness quickly -- leading to internal bleeding and shock.

The disease is named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, where the virus was first discovered in 1976. If confirmed, the case would be a blow for Zimbabwe's health sector, brought to its knees in the last two months by a strike by doctors and nurses in government hospitals to press for salary hikes of up to 11 000% .

-------------------------------------------------

Zimbabwe: Suspected Case of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever --------------------------------------- HARARE: Zimbabwean health officials are testing for the deadly Ebola virus after an Angolan man died in Zimbabwe's prime tourist town of Victoria Falls, Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said on Sun 28 Dec 2003. He confirmed a report in the official Sunday Mail that the patient, a cross-border trader, died on Christmas Day after being admitted to hospital with symptoms consistent with the highly contagious virus. "It could be [another] hemorrhagic fever...but we still have to rule out Ebola," Parirenyatwa told Reuters, saying no other similar illnesses had been reported in Victoria Falls, a town close to the Zambian border and the hub of Zimbabwe's ailing tourism industry. "The person did not get into contact with anyone, he went straight into hospital," he said.

Parirenyatwa confirmed that samples from the man had been taken to neighboring South Africa for laboratory tests but could not say when the results were expected. The term hemorrhagic fever covers a number of different viral infections, some relatively harmless but others, including the feared Ebola, extremely deadly.

If confirmed as Ebola, it would be Zimbabwe's first case of the deadly virus, which kills up to 90 percent of infected people. There is no known cure. Ebola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. Its symptoms include fever, weakness and muscle pain followed by vomiting, diarrhea, reduced liver and kidney functions and internal and external bleeding. The disease is named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, where the virus was first identified in 1976.

A confirmed Ebola hemorrhagic fever case at Victoria Falls could blow another hole in the Zimbabwean tourism industry, which has shrunk by more than 60 percent in the past three years amid an acute political and economic crisis many blame on President Robert Mugabe's government.

[Neuromancer]

If confirmed these brief statements would be the first reports of the occurrence of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in any of the countries mentioned above; i.e. Zimbabwe, Zambia or Angola. Further information is awaited.

Marburg haemorrhagic fever, caused by a different filovirus, was reported in 1975, in an Australian hitchhiker who may have contracted the disease while traveling through Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and who died subsequently. The infection was passed to two other persons, both of whom recovered. Marburg haemorrhagic fever was reported again in 1982 in a young man who had recently come from Zimbabwe to South Africa, on the basis of transient antibody activity, but it was subsequently stated that this diagnosis should be regarded as unsubstantiated.

[Neuromancer]

The trader had crossed into Zimbabwe after travelling from Angola through Namibia and Botswana.

Efforts had been made to isolate the victim, and hospital staff had been put on alert for possible subsidiary
infections.

The alert puts extra pressure on Zimbabwe's health system which is already on the point of paralysis due to a two months strike by junior doctors and nurses, protesting against pay and conditions.

Understaffed and ill equipped wards are also flooded with patients suffering from HIV related conditions.

[Neuromancer]

There is a road
that leads from the forest
traveled by hosts unseen

Darkness is stirring
on Planet Downsize

[Neuromancer]

Archive Note: This post was removed from breaking news at 7:20 pm PST, on December the 28th of 2003.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

Oh, great. Tyranny, famine, and now, ebola?

[Neuromancer]

A cauldron of woe indeed.

[nuconvert]

It's a mess.


(pong)

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Words escape me.

Death heaped upon death.

[Neuromancer]

Doctors await 'Ebola' samples

South African virologists on Monday were awaiting samples from a man who died at Zimbabwe's prime resort of Victoria Falls last week, suspected of contracting the deadly Ebola virus.

A senior researcher at Johannesburg's National Institute for Communicable Diseases said however he believed it unlikely that the man was suffering from the haemorrhagic fever caused by Ebola, which is fatal in up to 80% of cases in humans.

"We are still waiting to get some samples (taken) from Zimbabwe," said the researcher, who asked not to be named.

"But at this stage it's highly unlikely that he had Ebola," he told reporters.

The 49-year-old man, believed to be a cross-border trader from Harare, fell ill on his way back to Zimbabwe from Angola through Namibia and Botswana. He was admitted to Victoria Falls' main hospital where he died on Christmas Day. Blood in his urine
"He had blood in his urine and stool samples, but did not have a rash or any other signs of Ebola," the researcher said.

Lucille Blumberg, of the institute, said she believed the samples would be sent either on Monday or Tuesday.

"That kind of specimen is very difficult to send through ordinary transport so we are making arrangements, but we should receive it in the next 24 hours," she told the SAPA news agency.
Doctors immediately isolated the man to prevent the spread of the disease after he displayed symptoms consistent with the highly contagious fever.

Ebola is spread through direct contact with body fluids of an infected person.

An Ebola outbreak in recent months left 29 dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is to the north of Angola.

[Neuromancer]

Lab tests rule out Ebola in Zimbabwe

December 31, 2003

Tissue samples from a man who was suspected to have died in Zimbabwe last week of Ebola have tested negative for the highly infectious virus.

The specimens arrived in Johannesburg yesterday morning and were subjected to rigorous testing by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases.

"We believe that the results virtually rule out a diagnosis of Marburg disease, Ebola fever, Rift Valley fever or Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever," a statement from the NICD said yesterday.

The institute was requested by the Zimbabwean Department of Health to assist in their investigation into the suspected Ebola case.

But after extensive testing, the institute found no evidence of Ebola or any other haemorrhagic fever in the tissue samples.
A spokesperson from the NICD said more tests were being run