Ebola outbreak confirmed in Congo, WHO sending teams

GENEVA (Reuters) - An outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, a deadly disease for which there is no treatment, has been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

Samples from five people have tested positive for the Ebola virus in the southern province of Kasai Occidental, where authorities have reported some 120 deaths among 300 sick people in the past four months, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.

Not all these deaths are necessarily due to Ebola however. Other diseases are also suspected to be ravaging the remote region, as some patients have responded to treatment with antibiotics, indicating Shigella disease which is borne by contaminated food or water, he said.

"We know there are five cases confirmed as Ebola. We still believe other things are going on," Hartl said. "We have to get more people on the ground in the area to investigate."

No cases have been reported in the east of the country where heavy fighting in recent weeks between government forces and rebels forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes.

Ebola, which causes death in 50 to 90 percent of cases, is transmitted by contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons. Symptoms begin with fever and muscle pain, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea and in some cases bleeding from orifices.

The virus' natural reservoir seems to reside in African rain forests and in areas of the Western Pacific, according to the United Nations health agency.

Kasai is east of Kikwit, the site of a major Ebola outbreak in the former Zaire in 1995, which killed 250 among 315 people.

The samples were tested at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in a laboratory in Gabon, according to Hartl.

The WHO on Tuesday activated its Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network, known as GOARN, asking partner health organisations including the Atlanta-based CDC to send epidemiologists and other experts, he said.

"The WHO is in the process now of coordinating international teams to go into the area," Hartl said.

It is also important to warn communities that Ebola can be transmitted at burial ceremonies where mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased, he said.

"We have to identify cases and isolate cases, separating Shigella patients from Ebola," Hartl added.

© Reuters