Posted on 05/03/2005 3:37:59 AM PDT by tdewey10
Marburg kills 280 03/05/2005 09:53 - (SA)
Luanda - The death toll from the outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus in Angola has reached 280, most of whom succumbed to the disease in the northern Uige province, the health ministry and the World Health Organisation said late on Monday.
Of the 280 dead, 269 were in Uige province and a further 208 people are under medical observation in that region after coming into contact with an infected person, a statement from the ministry and the WHO said.
There have been a total of 313 cases detected of the Marburg virus since monitoring of the outbreak, the worst ever recorded, began on October 13, it added.
The Ebola-like Marburg virus can kill a healthy person in a week, causing diarrhoea and vomiting followed by severe internal bleeding.
Its exact origin is unknown and there is no cure. The virus spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, excrement, vomit, saliva, sweat and tears, but can be contained with relatively simple hygenic precautions, according to experts.
Angolan health officials have stressed that corpses present a very high risk of contamination as burial rituals often involve touching the deceased to bid farewell.
Deputy Health Minister Jose Van Dunem told journalists that a health team travelled to the village of Ngombe, 150km north of the city of Uige, on Sunday and were told that a woman who had attended the funeral of a relative in Uige had spread the virus to the village.
"When she returned to Ngombe, she contaminated 12 other members of her family and they all died," said Van Dunem.
A traditional healer who treated many patients sick with Marburg in a town outside of Uige has also died from the haemorraghic fever, he added.
No new cases of the Marburg virus have been detected outside the province.
Results from a blood test on a suspected case of Marburg in nearby Malange province were negative, he said.
The Marburg virus was discovered in 1967 when German laboratory workers in a town of the same name were infected by monkeys from Uganda.
Until now the most serious outbreak of the disease had been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 123 people died between 1998 and 2000.
Mini-Marburg ping
The big surprise in this is the number of people under observation. The other numbers are merely admitting to what was suspected, minus some 'reclassifications'. Eventually, they'll have to admit that this has gotten out of Uige.
Note they don't break out the total for Uige province anymote, just the total dead from Uige province.
Thx. for the ping. I have to go to training today so I'll catchup this evening.
No new cases of the Marburg virus have been detected outside the province.
This traditional healer has no doubt spread this to entire villages, which may or may not have been decimated. They haven't detected anything outside of Uige, because they don't leave the province any more. They don't dare. But, those who work there in Uige for WHO, the CDC, and Doctors Without Borders can come and go at will. What happens to these people - like CDC types - when they get on a plane to the US? Are they placed in quarantine, or do we take their word for it that they're OK? We all know the answer to that, don't we? Besides, they may have just infected an entire planeload of people passing through the US - no big deal.
Absolutely agree. We need to quarantine travelers from Angola and Congo now.
They follow protocol and present no risk of infection as a result of working in the field. The only people that are at risk are usually NGO's such as charitable or religious groups that provide carer's for these communities.
Protocol is great when you know the source vector, as well as the time of incubation. With Marburg, that is not the case.
In order to ensure that NO cases enter the US, an effective quarantine of Angola/Congo/Sub-Saharan Africa needs to take place immediately. Currently there is a non-stop flight from Luanda Angola to Houston - daily. Those care providers have become some of worst at spreading the disease, by casually forgetting those "protocols". They need to stay put.
Bookmark.
Looks like it might not be as contained as we first thought.
Now here is a problem that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson ought to chase down and solve.
Only problem is to figure out who to sue.
I see by your homepage that you're not exactly uneducated in this field, however, it sounds as though you haven't been following this particular outbreak very closely. I'd appreciate it very much if you would please do so - your knowledge could cut through the current level of misinformation being placed in front of the media, or you may possibly have contacts in the field who have the actual data on this.
OTOH, if you have been following this closely, and stand by your your reply that this is merely a shocking statistic brought about by local customs, then I'm sorry to have wasted the time.
* bump *
Nah -- there's no money in this for shakedowns, and the risk factor is far too high for them to get involved. If it were possible, I'd suggest we send Clinton and Carter down there - but they'd end up coming back and infecting everyone here somehow.
I think you are confusing operational protocol (IDEP is one example) with etiology. The knowledge of vector and incubation period is irrelevant to preventative measures or safety protocol. Marburg for example is a biosafety level 4 designation, this is not differentiated when protocol is compared to any other level 4 agent, in most cases ALL the level 4 agents have varying vector and etiology, not to mention morphology / molecular structure etc.
"In order to ensure that NO cases enter the US, an effective quarantine of Angola/Congo/Sub-Saharan Africa needs to take place immediately. Currently there is a non-stop flight from Luanda Angola to Houston - daily. Those care providers have become some of worst at spreading the disease, by casually forgetting those "protocols". They need to stay put." That is a glaringly lay perspective
I think you are confusing operational protocol (IDEP is one example) with etiology. The knowledge of vector and incubabtion period is irrelevant to preventative measures or safety protocol. Marburg for example is a biosafety level 4 designation, this is not differentiated when protocol is compered to any other level 4 agent, in most cases ALL the level 4 agents have varying vector and etiology, not to mention morphology / molecular structure etc.
"In order to ensure that NO cases enter the US, an effective quarantine of Angola/Congo/Sub-Saharan Africa needs to take place immediately. Currently there is a non-stop flight from Luanda Angola to Houston - daily. Those care providers have become some of worst at spreading the disease, by casually forgetting those "protocols". They need to stay put."
That is a glaringly lay perspective
Plus the 208 under observation in Uige alone...
Sounds like they can't hide all the numbers anymore. This undoubtedly represents the low end of the count.
" sounds as though you haven't been following this particular outbreak very closely"
Yes my initial comments concerning local cultural practices was a postulation rather than an informed opinion.
I am actually curious about this particular index and outbreak, so I will take a look in the faculty database and report back.:-)
"OTOH, if you have been following this closely, and stand by your your reply that this is merely a shocking statistic brought about by local customs, then I'm sorry to have wasted the time."
No this is not a waste of time :-) like I say this event may be anomalous or a statistical outliar. My curiosity is aroused as it does not show the regular epidemic profile after a cursory look at our intranet site covering the outbreak(distribution and determinants are atypical)
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