Originally published March 31 2005
Ebola-like disease kills at least 114 in Angola
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Angola officials say that a rare Ebola-like disease called Marburg has now killed at least 114 people. The disease apparently first broke out in mid March in the northern Angola city of Uige, where it killed at least 90. Now the very contagious virus appears to have spread to the capital city of Luanda. One of the victims is an Italian doctor who treated two people who caught the disease in Uige and then traveled to Luanda.
A total of 114 people in Angola, including an Italian doctor, have died in a rare Marburg epidemic, and health officials said on Friday they feared the deadly virus could spread to Luanda.
Two people -- including the doctor who had been in direct contact with Marburg patients -- had died in Luanda after coming to the capital from northern Uige province to receive treatment, Filomeno Fortes, department head for disease control at the health ministry told Reuters.
A further four people in Luanda were also suspected of being infected with the killer hemorrhagic fever, which is in the same family as Ebola and for which there is no specific cure, but Fortes said all six cases in the capital had come in from Uige.
"Of the six cases we've had in Luanda, we've had two deaths until now.
"Our fear is that if we don't control cases coming from Uige, there is a risk that they could infect people in Luanda," he added.
The health ministry had sent mobile teams across Luanda to test suspect cases and to check up on people who had been in contact with identified cases, with hospital chiefs also putting in place preparatory measures in case of a local outbreak.
Health ministry spokesman Carlos Alberto, speaking to Reuters by phone from Uige, confirmed 112 people in the province about 225 km (140 miles) north of Luanda had died from Marburg but said the death toll could be even higher.
"We've only registered cases dealt with in hospitals but it's possible people have also died in their homes without coming to hospital," Alberto said.
The Marburg virus is characterized by high fever, headaches, nausea, with vomiting and diarrhea accompanied by blood.
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