EBOLA spreads to Democratic Republic of Congo

Congo says two samples test positive for Ebola in northern outbreak

KINSHASA Aug 24 (Reuters) - Two out of eight cases tested in an outbreak of deadly fever in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo were positive for the Ebola virus, Health Minister Felix Kabange Numbi said on Sunday.

The World Health Organization said on Thursday that at least 70 people had died in an outbreak of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis in Congo's northern Equateur province. A WHO spokesman had said the outbreak was not Ebola.

So they had it wrong.

Not good.

This is what the World Health Organization said previously:

WHO says 70 died from hemorrhagic illness in DRC; denies outbreak is Ebola

At least 70 people have died in northern Democratic Republic of Congo from an outbreak of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, denying that the illness was Ebola.

A WHO report issued Thursday and seen by Reuters said that 592 people contracted the disease and 70 of them have died. Five health care workers, including one doctor, are among the dead.

"This is not Ebola," a WHO spokesman said in an email to Reuters on Thursday.

Now here is the scary part:

A local priest who asked not to be named said that the illness affected several villages and estimated that the death toll was over 100 people.

What's remarkable is that the WHO's denial happened in advance of any testing. How does that make sense?

a reply to: loam

WHO's denial before any testing makes sense, only to them. To try and keep their aire of superiority alive, IMO. Syx.

a reply to: TruthxIsxInxThexMist

Seriously? Are you jealous of flags and stars? Zero people want to wade through 7 pages of comments to read a new article about ebola. Deal with reposts, they are a fact of nature.

Given the location in the Congo, I'm assuming this was spread through travel from West Africa and not somehow a separate outbreak.

Well, I guess not.

...the infections were of a different strain than those in the outbreak in West Africa that has killed more than 1,400 people.

Link.

Good grief. Really?

originally posted by: loam
Given the location in the Congo, I'm assuming this was spread through travel from West Africa and not somehow a separate outbreak.

Well, I guess not.

...the infections were of a different strain than those in the outbreak in West Africa that has killed more than 1,400 people.

Link.

Good grief. Really?

A different strain.
Could it be a mutation of the strain spreading through the other countries? Or is it completely different?

a reply to: butcherguy

Too early to tell. I'm sure we will learn more over time. But the Minister said it was a different strain. Here's another article confirming his statements:

Congo says its first Ebola cases are unrelated to West Africa epidemic

so now we are talking about 2 different strains ! lets see which one this is ! please update

armakirais

a reply to: loam
Isn't there an implication that the disease also exists, unreported, in the vast area between Nigeria and Congo?
How open are those intervening countries to journalists?

This is very disturbing. It only takes one misdiagnosis for this to spread to other countries, this is a big mistake.

a reply to: armakirais

originally posted by: armakirais
so now we are talking about 2 different strains ! lets see which one this is ! please update

How about THREE different strains?

"I declare an Ebola epidemic in the region of Djera, in the territory of Boende in the province of Equateur," Kabange Numbi told a news conference.

The region lies about 1,200 km (750 miles) north of the capital Kinshasa.

Numbi said that one of the two cases that tested positive was for the Sudanese strain of the disease, while the other was a mixture between the Sudanese and the Zaire strain -- the most lethal variety. The outbreak in West Africa that has killed at least 1,427 people in West Africa since March is the Zaire strain.

Link.

As a side note, I wonder about his use of the word "epidemic" as opposed to 'outbreak', which seems to have been the way these types of situations are initially described.

a reply to: loam

What's remarkable is that the WHO's denial happened in advance of any testing. How does that make sense?

Diagnosis by symptoms and epidemiology - it didn't look or act like known Ebola strains. Just like the Ebola outbreak that started in the Kenema Hospital area - it was ignored for political and economic reasons, with the expectation that it would just go away (burn itself out quickly).

The times they are a-changin - and all the bugs too. But nobody's on the right page yet.

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: loam
Given the location in the Congo, I'm assuming this was spread through travel from West Africa and not somehow a separate outbreak.

Well, I guess not.

...the infections were of a different strain than those in the outbreak in West Africa that has killed more than 1,400 people.

Link.

Good grief. Really?

A different strain.
Could it be a mutation of the strain spreading through the other countries? Or is it completely different?

I imagine if one colony of bats has Ebola, then so would all the different bat colonies across Africa. And each might have a completely different strain.

This is eerily looking like the spread of AIDS back in the 1980s. How many of these countries have good ties to China? How many have those empty cities there as well?

Looks like the US/UK is up to their same shenannigans again, getting rid of the population to get their resources uncontested. Looks like colonization 2.5.

a reply to: Nechash

OK. Maybe I jumped the gun but I did post about the outbreak in Congo a good 5 days ago in the big thread on ebola.

Maybe I did want the Flags and I'm Jealous now.

a reply to: loam

West Africa has never had Ebola before - but Wiki lists 6 previous Ebola outbreaks in the Congo - 5 were EBOV (Zaire strain), one was BDBV (Bundibugyo strain) and this one is supposedly SUDV (Sudan strain).

a reply to: soficrow

More like 'communication error':

The WHO said last week those deaths were not Ebola-related, but WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said by email Sunday that the information was the result of “miscommunication from the field.”

Link.

Well this should get interesting very quickly if this is true. Between Congo and India now reporting a possible case I don't really feel we are getting the whole story nor is any country really safe from this. Regardless of how good medical care may be in a country, something of this nature that infects and kills people so quickly would overrun the facilities that are able to care for patients VERY quickly.

originally posted by: Vasa Croe ...I don't really feel we are getting the whole story nor is any country really safe from this.

absolutely. the PR agenda as far as governments are concerned is to calm their repective populations, to not panic the flock, so to speak.

I agree ! the hospitals will not be able to handle a big outbreak in any country , and also if they could we also will be dealing with mass hysteria !what will make things worse ! The problem is not only the virus but also how we react to it !

armakirais