http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1047875/posts Angolan dies in Zimbabwe of suspected Ebola
SACBnews ^ | 12-28-03
Posted on 12/28/2003 7:00:13 PM PST by Neuromancer
"Angolan dies in Zimbabwe of suspected Ebola"
December 28, 2003, 02:45 PM
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "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."
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1048971/posts "WHO: Lab Tests Rule Out Ebola in Zimbabwe"
AP ^ | 12-30-03 | ANGUS SHAW
Posted on 12/30/2003 4:03:30 PM PST by Indy Pendance
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Laboratory tests have ruled out the possibility that an Angolan trader died of the feared Ebola virus in neighboring Zimbabwe, the U.N. health agency said Tuesday.
The South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases tested samples sent by Zimbabwe on Tuesday, World Health Organization spokesman Dr. Welile Shashas said.
"To the immense relief of everyone, this was not Ebola" or a similar hemorrhagic fever, he said.
Zimbabwe health authorities announced over the weekend that an Angolan national who died in the resort town of Victoria Falls on Christmas day had exhibited symptoms consistent with Ebola.
The announcement touched off fears the highly contagious disease could spread from the continent's equatorial regions to southern Africa for the first time.
Health officials in neighboring Botswana, Namibia and Zambia have been on alert since the weekend.
The actual cause of death remains to be determined. But confirmation that it was not Ebola has allowed emergency health teams gathered at Victoria Falls to lift quarantine restrictions imposed on staff who tended to the patient, Shashas said."