Marburg Toll in Angola Rises to 237 - 11 in Luanda
Recombinomics Commentary
April 12, 2005
>> The health ministry and WHO said in a statement that the greatest number of deaths -- 190 -- was recorded in the northern Uige province, the epicenter of the epidemic that was first detected in October.
A total of 202 cases have been detected in Uige, it said.
The highest number of deaths after Uige was in the Kwanza Sul province with six fatalities and six cases, followed by five deaths and 11 cases in Luanda, five deaths and six cases in Zaire, two deaths and four cases in Mananje, and one death and one case each in the provinces of Cabinda and Kwanza Norte.
Meanwhile, health ministry spokesman Alberto Carlos told reporters that six other bodies had been found in a hospital morgue in Uige and that laboratory tests proved that they had succumbed to the virus.
He underlined that these deaths did not figure in the toll released Tuesday, without giving a reason. <<
The latest update indicated that the recorded cases had grown to 231 (excluding the six bodies in the Uige morgue). Uige has 190, but now Luanda has the second highest number of cases with 11. These two provinces also have the largest numbers of recorded patients that are still alive, with 12 in Uige and 6 in Luanda. The only other provinces with recorded patients who have not yet died are Mananje with 2 and Zaire with 1. The other 3 provinces have no recorded survivors.
These latest figures for Luanda match the 5 deaths described in media reports. The data suggests that the two recent cases in Cacuaco described in media reports have either not died, or not been recorded. The same situation would apply to the Portuguese national. The latest update indicates that there are three additional cases in Luanda which have not been described in media reports.
This added detail focuses attention on Uige and Luanda, but the number of unreported cases in these two areas is still unknown, which is also true for the other provinces.
The 237 cases suggest that the number of recorded cases will soon exceed the record number of 280 deaths in the 1976 Ebola outbreak in Zaire. There are still no recent reports of any of the Marburg cases in Angola being discharged.
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