Mystery Illness Kills More Than 100 in Congo
Pastor Dale Morgan
Mystery Illness Kills More Than 100 in Congo*
By EDDY ISANGO
The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 29, 2007; 4:28 PM
KINSHASA, Congo -- More than 100 people have died in a remote part of
Congo, including all those who attended the funerals of two village
chiefs, in what health officials fear is an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever.
People began dying of the suspected fever after the funerals in Mweka, a
region of southeastern Congo where relatives usually wash the bodies of
the deceased, said Jean-Constatin Kanow, the chief medical inspector for
the province.
In the past, Congo has seen large outbreaks of Marburg and Ebola,
hemorrhagic fevers caused by viruses that can attack the central nervous
system and cause bleeding from the eyes, ears and other parts of the body.
"Everyone that attended those funerals is now dead," said Kanow. "We
began by suspecting typhoid fever, but now we believe it's hemorrhagic
fever."
Four villages are affected and 217 people became ill, including 103 who
died. Of the dead, 100 were adults and three were children, said Kanow.
Two medical teams from the province's administrative seat have been sent
to Mweka, an area with a population of 140,000. A team from the National
Institute of Biomedical Research was expected to arrive Wednesday from
Kinshasa, the capital 430 miles northwest of Mweka.
The researchers will blood samples for analysis.
Congo's last major Ebola outbreak struck the city of Kikwit in 1995,
killing 245 people. Kikwit is about 185 miles from the area where the
recent deaths occurred.