Mystery disease hits children in Angola: WHO*

Reuters
Wednesday, November 21, 2007; 2:39 PM

GENEVA (Reuters) - A mystery disease causing extreme drowsiness lasting
over several days and mainly in children is affecting the region around
the town of Cacuaco, north of the Angolan capital Luanda, according to
the WHO.

A report on the website of the agency, the United Nations' World Health
Organization, said over 30 cases had been treated at the Cacuaco
hospital by November 19, 64 percent of them children under 15.

The report recorded no deaths from the illness, from which it said
patients recover slowly over several days, some of them even then still
unable to walk unaided.

Toxicological tests on blood samples from victims and carried out in
Germany detected very high levels of bromide, leading WHO experts to
suspect bromide poisoning as a possible cause of the outbreak, the
report said.

Further tests are being carried out on blood, food and environmental
samples, which were being dispatched to a British laboratory, according
to the WHO.

The agency said it had provided the Angolan health authorities with a
clinical team, including a food safety expert to help carry out further
investigations on the ground to confirm the cause of the outbreak.

(Reporting by Robert Evans)