Congo town quarantined over Ebola outbreak

A TOWN at the centre of an outbreak of Ebola in The Republic of Congo has been cordoned off but the number of cases of the deadly disease had not changed, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official said on Thursday.

“The head of the district has placed Etoumbi in quarantine. Nothing goes in or out of the locality anymore, and the government will bring food for the population from tomorrow,” said Adamou Yada, WHO’s representative in Congo.

The latest outbreak of the virus has already killed nine people since the end of April in the forested northwestern Cuvette-Ouest region, where nearly 150 people died from Ebola in 2003. Neighbouring Gabon also had outbreaks in 2001 and 2002.

Mr Yada said two other people infected with the disease appeared to be recovering. He said the numbers being monitored for the disease had dropped to 65 from around 80.

There is no known cure for Ebola, which is passed on by infected body fluids and which kills between 50% and 90% of victims, depending on the strain.

Ebola damages blood vessels and can cause bleeding, diarrhoea and shock. Its worst outbreak, in 1995, killed more than 250 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Scientists attribute past outbreaks to the consumption of infected monkey meat. An outbreak in Angola of the Marburg virus, a close relative of Ebola, has killed 300 people.