[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]

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