Too early to tell if disease is Ebola

Ten people have died in an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in southern Sudan, the UN confirmed on Wednesday. According to Ben Parker, spokesman for the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan, there have been 178 confirmed cases of the disease which first broke out in the town of Ikotos, close to the Ugandan border. Scientists from the World Health Organisation (WHO) have been to Ikotos and nearby Imatong to gather samples in order to identify the disease. The team of scientists is also training local people on how to deal with the outbreak. Dr Sou Abdurahman, who heads the WHO office for southern Sudan, told IRIN on Wednesday the experts were expected to return to Kenya in "two or three" days with the samples. These would then be taken to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) laboratories in Nairobi for further analysis. "Nobody knows if it is Ebola. But it is a severe disease because it kills," Abdurahman said. The NGO, Norwegian Church Aid, which operates in the area, first alerted WHO to the disease. Nearly three years ago, an outbreak of the deadly Ebola fever in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu - some 45 km from Ikotos - killed over 120 people.