[Neuromancer]

As of Thu 27 Feb 2003, a total of 5 laboratory-confirmed and 92 probable cases, including 80 deaths, from Ebola haemorrhagic fever, has been reported in the districts of Mbomo and Kelle in Cuvette Ouest Region

The Congolese government has sent food for the communities in these districts. The Ministry of Health, WHO and the international team from the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network are training local health workers in clinical management of the disease; carrying out active case finding and contact tracing; and providing protective clothing and essential medical equipment:

They are also developing public health education messages about Ebola fever with local leaders through the local radio and print media, and, with volunteers from the national Red Cross Society, working to increase community awareness and understanding of Ebola fever.

These figures represent an increase of 2 cases and 3 deaths in the 48 hours since Wed 25 Feb 2003.

[Neuromancer]

Republic of the Congo: Ebola Fever Death Toll Rises to 81

According to the data published today by the Congolese Ministry of Health, at least 81 persons have died as a result of the epidemic of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the Cuvette Ouest Region (northwest Congo), on the border with Gabon. The Ministry of Health information bulletin indicates that the district of Kelle, 430 miles northwest of Brazzaville, where the main focus of the epidemic is located, registered 72 deaths, while the neighboring district of Mbomo, almost 500 miles further north, reported 9 victims since the disease appeared on 4 Jan 2003. In 1996, a similar epidemic caused the death of hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Shortly before, WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib had stated that in Cuvette Ouest, 80 of the 97 cases of Ebola hemorrhagic fever registered had died. According to the WHO data, 72 of the 85 cases registered in Kelle died, as did 8 of the 12 cases registered in Mbomo. According to Chaib, local communities have begun to have a better understanding of this highly contagious disease, and have less fear, thanks in part to the medical and expert teams that have arrived and who are instructing them to not eat dead monkeys found in the forest, as well as to change their burial rites.

The Ministry of Health report increases the number of death reported by WHO by one.