Date: Tue 21 Aug 2012
Source: WHO Global Alert and Response (GAR), Disease Outbreak News [edited]
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_08_21/en/index.html
Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - update
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As of Mon 20 Aug 2012, a total of 15 (13 probable and 2 confirmed) cases with 10 deaths have been reported in Province Orientale in Eastern DRC. The reported cases and deaths have occurred in 3 health zones as follows: 12 cases and 8 deaths in Isiro, including 3 health care workers who have died; 2 cases and one death in Pawa; and one fatal case in Dungu.
The Congolese Ministry of Health has convened a National Task Force and is working with several partners including WHO, UNICEF, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) Suisse, MSF Belgique, and the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Similar Task Forces have been established at provincial and district levels to oversee and guide the response.
A joint MoH, WHO, and MSF emergency response team is in the field to conduct a detailed epidemiological investigation and support case management. Control activities that are being carried out include active case finding and contact tracing, enhanced surveillance, case management, public information and social mobilization, and reinforcing infection control practices.
WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health in the areas of coordination, surveillance, field epidemiology, laboratory, case management, outbreak logistics, public information and social mobilization. An additional team of epidemiologists, a logistician, an anthropologist, and social mobilization officers is being mobilized from the DRC, Republic of Congo, the WHO AFRO regional rapid response team, WHO Inter-Country Support team (IST) based in Gabon, and WHO HQ, for possible deployment in the field.
WHO does not recommend that any travel or trade restrictions be applied to Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Marianne Hopp
[This new WHO report raises the number of cases from 10 on 17 Aug 2012 to 15 on 20 Aug 2012, and the number of fatalities from 9 to 10. A 3rd health zone, Pawa, is involved now in addition to the Isiro and Dungu Health Zones. These 3 health zones are located in the Orientale Province of eastern DRC.
Of the 15 cases, 2 have been confirmed as cases of infection by the Bundibugyo strain of ebolavirus. In contrast the outbreak of Ebola fever in an adjacent region of Uganda has been a result of infection by the Sudan strain of ebolavirus. The almost simultaneous outbreaks of ebolavirus infection in close proximity, caused by different strains of the virus, suggests that climatic or environmental factors may be playing a role. Further information is awaited.
N.B. "Ebola virus disease" has been substituted for "Ebola hemorrhagic fever" in the thread name in response to an observation from a correspondent that the ebolavirus fever is rarely hemorrhagic.
A map of the provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo is available at http://www.mapsofworld.com/democratic-republic-of-congo/democratic-republic-of-congo-political-map.html. The HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be accessed at http://healthmap.org/r/35-r. -
