Ebola toll reaches 24 cases, 12 deaths

As on Friday, a total of 24 cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, including 12 deaths, in the villages of Mbomo (19 cases, nine deaths) and Mbanza (five cases, three deaths) in Mbomo District, in the country's northwestern Cuvette Ouest Department, were reported by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO said its staff had been working closely with both the ministry and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Mbomo District to support case management, monitoring and social mobilisation activities with local communities. Meanwhile, WHO said its country office in the capital, Brazzaville, was supporting the National Control Committee, comprising the defence and forestry ministries, the EC's Humanitarian Office, the French cooperation office, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the national Red Cross Society, MSF-Holland and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. WHO said the current outbreak had originated in Mbanza, some 15 km from Mbomo, when a family consumed a dead wild boar they had found in the forest, with the first death occurring on 16 October. It said although the epidemic was so far confined to Mbomo, there was a "serious risk" of the its spreading to the nearby districts of Kelle and Itoumbi. [For more information on the Ebola virus, go to www.cdc.gov]