At least one case of Ebola confirmed
WHO: 28 dead in Congo, 10 in Gabon from mysterious fever
GENEVA, Dec. 8 - The World Health Organization said Saturday there had been
at least one case of the deadly Ebola virus in Gabon, following reports that
10 people had died of a mystery illness in the Central African country. A
WHO official said in the Gabon capital Libreville on Friday that 10 people,
including a nurse, had died in Gabon from a disease it was feared could be
Ebola.
THE WHO told Reuters from its Geneva headquarters on Saturday at least one
case of Ebola had been reported from Gabon.
At least 66 people died from Ebola in the same area of Gabon in 1996.
Another WHO official said on Friday 28 people had died of hemorrhagic
fever in the Democratic Republic of Congo and doctors feared that outbreak
might also be Ebola.
There is no known cure and no vaccine for Ebola, which causes up to
90 percent of victims to bleed to death in a matter of days. The disease was
discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic
Republic of Congo.
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The WHO said in a weekly bulletin in Geneva on Friday that it had
received reports of cases of suspected viral hemorrhagic fever - which
includes Ebola - in Ogooue Iveindo province in the northeastern part of
Gabon and had sent a team to investigate.
The official in Libreville said on Friday blood samples had been
taken from victims in Gabon and sent to South Africa for tests.
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