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Posted on 05/04/2005 12:42:04 AM PDT by Judith Anne
Welcome to the Marburg Surveillance Project.
This thread will be used for all of the latest Marburg Outbreak News and comments. This is the place to post all comments about the Marburg outbreak, all articles and links to articles about the Marburg outbreak.
We're going to use just one thread instead of having to go from article to article as we have in the past. We'll use this thread as long as we can.
I really appreciate the picture and the comments...thanks for posting.
And the one sick person in the line infects how many others?
you're welcome....and please add me to your ping list!
Hi
I think watching this story unfold has made me a little paranoid. Everybody has things they fear, I fear this. I am stunned by the tragedy of those living through such a nightmare.
Paranoid? I am terrified...!!!
mrs.x
bookmark
"Angola is hampered in its ability to control the disease because of a weak healthcare system, lack of personnel and supplies, and inadequate information systems for finding cases. As cases are not detected, health officials cannot stop the virus from spreading."
I'll put you on the Marburg list, if you like. You're certainly welcome here.
I remember reading some really high figures from a two month period also...makes you wonder who is saying what, and why. The only thing that's clear is that none of the numbers are exactly correct.
I think 2ndreconmarine's method of going with trends is probably as close as we're going to come to accuracy.
www.msf.be has an update, but no figures.
http://www.msf.be/fr/terrain/pays/afrique/angola_news_35.shtml
[Google Translate]
Marburg sows the fear in north of Angola
Uige, May 26, 2005 Taken by a feeling of despair vis-a-vis lepidemy of Marburg which strikes the area, the inhabitants of the angolaise city of Uige sometimes suffer in silence, sometimes express their anger or flee their house. Marburg a hemorrhagic fever which resembles the virus Ebola already cost the life more than 280 people in the province, and of new cases are almost recorded tous.les.jours.
Vis-a-vis a disease which is transmitted by the simple contact of the infected people presenting of the symptoms, the few 200.000 townsmen of Uige want to know which is responsible. And sometimes, their fear becomes anger. Stones were thus launched in direction of the international teams which fight against lepidemy but cannot cure the patients, because it nexist no curative treatment. Lunique measures quils can take consists in isolating the people infected so déviter the transmission from the disease.
As the patients who enter to lhôpital come out from it very seldom alive, the families refuse dabandonner their patient and prefer to hide it at the house, running themselves the dêtre risk the next victims.
Day after day, Zita visited her Horacio husband in the processing center provincial Marburg of lhôpital of Uige. But of return to the barrio with the district of Camdombe Velho, it na not dared to say to the neighbors why her husband was sick. "If I told them this quil had, they nauraient more desired to approach my house" , tells Zita.
After having spent 13 days in the center, Horacio navait more the symptoms. It recently returned at his place. Horacio is lun first patients who seem to have gained the battle against the disease.
But for many inhabitants of Uige, lhôpital provincial remainder synonymous with death. Not only because the patients die there, but also because lhôpital is lun principal hearths of lepidemy. With lorigine, they are dabord the children of the service of pediatry who died, then their mothers, then the personnel of health 16 lost the life and the disease is spread with their close relations.
"Lorsquil has there as many death, people always seek a culprit" , explains Pasteur Alberto Moisés, in front of the teams of MSF and world lOrganisation of health (WHO) which come to seek a body in the barrio of Pedreira. "They say that Marburg is in lhôpital and that whoever sen approach dies. Many people fled in Luanda (the capital) or towards the villages."
In lun of the rudimentary buildings of the court of lhôpital, a team of MSF installed a processing center for the patients reached of Marburg. Covered with the head to the feet by a combination of bio-safety, the members of léquipe work under extreme conditions. In addition to the inevitable fear and intense heat quils must endure, their role is limited to accompany the patients jusquà a death almost some.
"Cest very frustrating" , entrusts Diana Pou, doctor MSF. "We can only wash the patients, give them food and drinks, and look after their symptoms."
"We must say that we are here to solve a problem of public health, and we must dissociate ourselves from any personal approach. Main goal is disoler the people infected for not quelles do not contaminate the others ", additions Luis Encinas, the medical coordinator.
To convince the population that lisolement patients is necessary sapparente to a task herculéenne. A team of MSF recently organized a meeting with the representatives of the barrio of Pedreira. Limportance damener the cases with lhôpital even sil ny has any treatment was discussed during hours. Cest then quun traditional guerissor intervened: "Jai a remedy. And jai already cured five people ", claimed it, unable to however give the name dune only. Suddenly, all the participants in the meeting including those which seemed the most convinced of the disoler need the patients started to ask that the traditional remedy be applied. Two short sentences had been enough to reverse the course of the meeting.
Beyond the failures of this kind, the local traditions and habits can become fatal weapons. In preparation dune ceremony denterrement with the barrio of Ngana Camana, April 10, the body dune woman, Madalena, was washed by its sSur Ana, its beautiful-sSur LISA and its Elisabeth goddaughter. These three women then died of Marburg.
"If we can prove that Madalena was infected, it will be clear that the virus could be transmitted to the moment when the body was washed" , explains Evelyn Depoortere, epidemiologist with Epicentre, the epidemiologic research center of MSF. Evelyn also examines if Madalena do not nappartient with a hearth of five people, very of Ngana Camana, who could have contracted Marburg in the local center of health. A team of lOMS noticed that the syringes, in this center, were re-used after being soaked during a few minutes in leau hot.
"One can compare with the AIDS" , explains Josefa Rodríguez, psychologist of MSF. "In Europe, after years of sensitizing, we succeeded in changing some behaviors. Here, we require that the population changes its habits into two weeks. And even if we do our better, this nest not simple."
Meanwhile and in spite of the fact that new cases are almost recorded tous.les.jours the inhabitants of Uige find a pretence of normality gradually. The streets, almost deserted a few weeks ago, were gradually repopulated. People do not cover any more the mouth with horror with the passage of the teams which collect the bodies. Accustomed with good dautres tests, the population surprises by its stoicism.
"In Angola, we knew the war" , explains Ligia María Costa Pedro, head of the service of pediatry with lhôpital of Uige. "We left and continued davancer there. Even if Marburg does many victims, there are always well some survivors." Ligia María lost seven of his/her colleagues, carried by Marburg.
I guess I'm a little confused, does this mean that MSF is NOT leaving Angola?
I'm going to pass on three links that I received, I found the third one particularly compelling.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/352/21/2155.pdf
http://216.239.37.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.club-k.net/XP/index.php%3FPOSTNUKESID%3D2b7a26d51a4de6ce8340a7d01aeded97&prev=/search%3Fq%3DSemanario%2BAngolense%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D
http://www.journeyman.tv/?lid=18508
No new numbers, and I can't vouch for the second link, it's in Portuguese. I found the transcript on the third one to be very compelling reading.
They must be detecting new cases and then disqualifying them again. Same old scenario.
Looks like the www.msf.fr post was the correct one. They're out of Negenge (and maybe Songo?) for lack of security but are still in Uige.
Frightening.
Bump
Newest official numbers.
http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia.asp?ID=344335
316/348/? [Dead/Cases/Followed]
Only up 1, seems a mite low.
WHO UPDATE! WHoooo-Hoooo! /Sarcasm off
Marburg haemorrhagic fever in Angola – update 20
27 May 2005
As of 26 May, the Ministry of Health in Angola has reported 399 cases of Marburg haemorrhagic fever. Of these cases, 335 were fatal. The vast majority of cases have occurred in Uige Province, where 388 cases and 324 deaths have been reported.
Yesterday, four new suspected cases, of which three were fatal, were reported in Bungo municipality, in Uige Province. Two of these cases have been laboratory confirmed. These are the first cases in this municipality detected since early April. An urgent investigation has been launched to determine whether the Bungo cases can be linked to Uige municipality, where transmission is known to be ongoing. Another focus of transmission would be a disturbing development for outbreak control.
In Uige municipality, procedures for contact tracing are now operating with greater efficiency. This week, staff from the mobile surveillance teams were able to visit and look for signs of illness in more than half of the 100 persons known to have had close contact with a Marburg patient. New cases are, however, continuing to occur with no known link to a previous case, suggesting that the surveillance system has not yet reached the efficiency needed to interrupt chains of transmission.
Local and international staff have continued to identify cultural practices that create opportunities for exposure to the virus and thus allow the outbreak to continue. Most recently, around 200 traditional healers have been trained in ways to reduce risks to themselves and their clients and given masks and gloves. To date, at least two traditional healers have died of Marburg haemorrhagic fever.
Intensive educational campaigns, supported by local religious leaders and Red Cross volunteers, about the hazards of home treatment using injections have resulted in the collection and safe disposal of large numbers of syringes. It is not certain, however, that this practice, which is a highly efficient way to spread the virus, has been fully eliminated in Uige’s population.
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