Health team traces 40 people with contact to Ebola fever

No new cases of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever have been reported since the last death on 6 June, but a three-member health team has traced 40 people who have had contact with six others suspected to have been infected by the disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday. The health workers, from the Republic of Congo's Ministry of Health and the WHO, are investigating the suspected cases in the Mbomo District, Cuvette Ouest Region of the country. But, WHO said, their work had been hampered by the lack of cooperation from the community. "Increased emphasis will be placed on social mobilisation activities," WHO said. It added that the epidemiological pattern of this cluster and the clinical signs exhibited by the suspected cases were consistent with the previous outbreak of Ebola in the area. However, it said, "Since no samples have been collected, there has been no laboratory confirmation." The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention describes Ebola as a severe, often-fatal disease in humans, and other primates such as monkeys and chimpanzees. The disease is caused by infection with the Ebola virus, named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognised in 1976. People can be exposed to the virus by way of direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person. The virus has often spread through the families and friends of infected persons - in the course of feeding, holding, or otherwise caring for them. People can also be exposed to the virus through contact with objects such as needles contaminated with infected secretions.