The U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and another lab in Gabon confirm an outbreak of Ebola fever in southeastern Congo:
More than 100 people have died of illness in the affected region, an area called Mweka, since late August.Ebola hemorrhagic fever is one of the most virulent viral diseases known to humankind, causing death in 50-90% of all clinically ill cases. The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected persons and handling ill or dead infected chimpanzees. The disease attacks the central nervous system and cause bleeding from the eyes, ears and other parts of the body.Makwenge did not provide further details or say if the outbreak had since been contained.
Medical inspectors had previously said that people began dying after high-profile funerals of two village chiefs in the region where relatives usually wash the bodies of the deceased by hand.
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By the end of August, four villages had been affected and 217 people had come down with the illness, including 103 who died. About 140,000 people live in the Mweka area.
Congo's last major Ebola outbreak struck in Kikwit in 1995, killing 245 people. Kikwit is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) from the site of the current purported outbreak.
The World Health Organization issued an alert Tuesday urging more doctors to travel to Congo to combat an outbreak of Ebola fever, which kills nearly all of those it infects and has no cure or treatment.
According to the Associated Press. the Congolese government declared a quarantine of the area in southeastern Congo.
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