Government, WHO confirm Ebola outbreak

The health ministry of the Republic of Congo (ROC), together with the World Health Organisation (WHO), on 14 November confirmed that a new outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome in the northwestern department of Cuvette Ouest was, in fact, the Ebola virus. On 7 November, WHO had reported that a total of 12 suspected cases of acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome including nine deaths had been reported in Mbomo District in Cuvette Ouest. "Findings of blood-sample analyses were officially communicated to us on Friday [14 November] by the World Health Organisation," ROC Health Minister Dr Alain Moka told IRIN on 15 November. The blood samples were tested by the Institut de Recherches pour le Developpement at the Centre International des Recherches Medicales de Franceville, in neighbouring Gabon. The WHO office in the ROC capital, Brazzaville, said the current outbreak had originated in the village of 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 that although the epidemic was thus far confined to Mbomo District, there was a "serious risk" of the disease spreading to the nearby districts of Kelle and Itoumbi. According to Moka, 11 people of 13 confirmed cases in Mbomo and Mbanza have died thus far. On 5 June 2003, the last outbreak of acute haemorrhagic fever syndrome, which was determined to have been the Ebola virus, was declared over by Moka. According to the WHO, 128 people of 143 confirmed cases died during that epidemic, which ensued following the handling and consumption of dead gorillas. The ROC authorities said that whereas they had not yet imposed a quarantine for the current outbreak, population movements in the affected region were being limited.