Hemorrhagic Fever Fatality in Bata Equatorial Guinea
Recombinomics Commentary
April 26, 2005
>> The Minister of Health of Equatorial Guinea announced an "urgent alert" on Friday [22 Apr 2005?] for the general population of the country following the death of a man presenting with the symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Bata, the 2nd largest city of the continental part of the country, according to a report on Sat 23 Apr 2005 on national radio. <<
Historically, this region of Africa has had hemorrhagic fevers caused by Ebola. There is a nearby outbreak among non-human primates. However, Bata is only several hundred miles north of Cabinda, where there has been one official case of Marburg and an earlier reported case that was subsequently discarded. The discarding of cases has been widespread outside of Uige, and now the official count has fallen to 11, all fatal.
More information on the victim in Bata, Equatorial Guinea would be useful. Although the official reports from the Angola Ministry of Health have not had new Marburg cases for several days, the criteria for excluding cases outside of Uige remain unclear.
Lack of transmission in more outlying regions is not yet conclusive because of a lack of information on excluded cases.
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