Disease Outbreaks Reported
On 13 March WHO received notifications
of possible Marburg haemorrhagic fever in 8 persons from Durba, Province
Orientale, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Clinical samples from 6
patients have been sent to National Institute for
Virology, (NIV), South Africa, and thus far, 3 have been confirmed positive
by virological tests. Initial tests on the 3 other samples were negative,
but other tests are still in progress. The availability of samples from
the 2 other cases
is not known at this time.
Since November 1999, there have been
30 notifications of possible Marburg disease from the vicinity of Durba.
Twelve of these were negative after extensive laboratory tests, leaving
a current total of 18 cases: 11 of which are confirmed, and 7 of which
are currently classified as suspect cases because no sample was available
(2), the status of samples is unknown (2), or results are pending (3).
Illness has proved fatal in 8 confirmed cases and in 4 suspect
cases. Dates of illness onset for the 30 notifications range from 9 November
1999 to 7 March 2000. Disease onset dates for confirmed cases range from
8 January to 24 February 2000. The confirmed cases worked as gold miners
(6), housewives (3), a farmer and a nurse.
Disease activity is clearly still continuing in the area, and appears to be linked to the gold mine in Durba. Surveillance is continuing, but the security situation in the area and poor communications and transport mean that information is only available intermittently. The situation is being closely monitored by the WHO country offices in Kinshasa and Kampala, the WHO African Regional Office in Harare and WHO Headquarters in Geneva.
=A9 WHO/OMS, 1998