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EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - CONGO DR (10)

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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo DR)'s health minister 

announced on Tuesday [2 Oct 20007] a fresh case of the feared Ebola 

virus, bringing the number of cases confirmed in the Kasai Occidental 

region to 25. "The new case of Ebola, which has just been confirmed, 

comes from the Kampungu zone," the epicentre of the current outbreak, 

Victor Makwenge Kaput told reporters in Kinshasa. Kampungu is about 

150 kilometres (93 miles) northwest of the regional capital Katanga. 

The confirmed result came from a test sample obtained last Saturday 

[29 Sep 2007], Kaput added. "That means that the virus is still 

circulating in this zone and that the epidemic is not over, even if 

we have seen a reduction in the number of suspect cases and deaths," he said.



So far 10 people have died from the latest outbreak and another 49 

suspected cases on top of the 25 confirmed are being investigated, he 

added. But the number of admissions to an isolation unit in Kampungu, 

a village of 9000 people, is down from previous weeks, according to 

the aid group. "We are close to controlling the Ebola outbreak. But 

we remain vigilant as the virus is still circulating in some of the 

neighbouring villages," [MSF epidemiologist] Van Herp said.



Aid group MSF [Medicines Sans Frontieres] is still actively looking 

for suspect cases of the highly contagious disease in about 20 

villages within a 30-km (19 miles) radius of the epicentre. The virus 

is difficult to track because it has an incubation period of 21 days. 

The visible symptoms include fever, bloody diarrhoea, and visible hemorrhaging.



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[The Ebola tally of confirmed cases has now risen from 24 to 25, and 

the number of deaths from 6 to 10, increasing the case fatality ratio 

from 25 percent to 40 percent. Verdicts on another 49 cases are 

awaited so the death toll may eventually approximate more closely to 

that characteristic of previous outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. 

In view of the delays in diagnosis, it seems premature to consider 

that the epidemic is in decline. - Mod.CP]



Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR (09) 20071001.3245

Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR (08) 20070926.3191

Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR (07) 20070923.3156

Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR (06) 20070921.3138

Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR (04) 20070916.3076

Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR (02) 20070912.3026

Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Congo DR 20070910.2996

...................................cp/mj/mpp