Suspected Ebola outbreak in Congo has caused 50 deaths

Feb 17, 2003 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 50 people in the Congo have died of a suspected acute hemorrhagic fever syndrome. A Reuters report said the disease is suspected to be Ebola virus infection.

Sixty-one cases have occurred in the outbreak in the Mbomo and Kelle districts, according to a WHO statement issued Feb 14. WHO and other international partners are working with Congolese health officials to contain the outbreak, the agency said.

A Feb 15 report by Reuters said the death toll in the outbreak had reached 51. The government has been trying to restrict travel in an effort to arrest the outbreak, the report said. The outbreak, the second in slightly more than a year in the northwestern Congo, is thought to have been caused by consumption of infected monkey meat, according to the report.

See also:

WHO statement
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2003_02_14a/en/