Ebola virus outbreak in Africa

[Harald Feldmann]

Jean-Paul Versteeg <jverstee at ache.mad.adelaide.edu.au> wrote:

>Can anyone confirm that there has been a city recently isolated in Africa
>within the last few days due to a outbreak of Ebola?

- Transcript from dutch Teletext service:
The WHO has confirmed that the Ebola virus is responsible for the
death of more than 100 people in Kikwit, a city in southeast Zaire.
Caualties are also reported in the city of Musango.

- Transcript from RTL-4 Dutch TV station:
In the Masengo hospital an Italian nun died of Ebola, after possibly
being infected in Kikwit.

(follow up from Dutch TV:)
The nun who has died was apparently buried by relatives or friends
from Belgium. These people travelled back to Belgium shortly
thereafter and were placed in quarantaine there.

- Transcript from Belgian teletext service:
"The epidemic which has caused more than 100 deaths in Kitwit in Zaire
was indeed caused by Ebola" Research by the Tropical Institute in
Antwerp (Belgium) has confirmed this.

The gouvernor of the province of Bandunu denies that Kitwit has been
placed under quarantaine.

>Would appreciate any further information, either to
>here or emailing me directly.

There was a very good thread on Ebola just a few weeks ago on
sci.skeptic , called "Do killervirusses threaten the world ?"

There is also a motion picture released in the cinema's in Europe this
week called "Outbreak" which deals with an outbreak of Ebola starting
in Zaire and spreading into the United States. Speaking of
synchronicity...


Other sources of information regarding the Ebola virus are:

Book: "The Hot Zone," New Yorker writer spent two years trailing a
mindless, merciless killer.  

*This book is available in Dutch as "Killervirus" by the same author*

Newspaper Article Synopsis:  
Feature story and interview with Richard Preston, author of the book
"The Hot Zone" (Random House).  "The Hot Zone" is about a virulent and
deadly Ebola virus which kills victims through massive hemorrhage in a
very short time.  

Newspaper Article Source:  
Covert, C.  "The Hot Zone," New Yorker writer spent two years trailing
a mindless, merciless killer.  Star Tribune 1994 October 12 :1E(col.
 1).

Related citations from MEDLINE:

:::
Unique Identifier
  94090702
Authors
  Johnson ED.  Gonzalez JP.  Georges A.
Title
 Filovirus activity among selected ethnic groups inhabiting the
 tropical forest of equatorial Africa.
Source
 Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene. 
 87(5):536-8, 1993 Sep-Oct.

:::
Unique Identifier
  94090701
Authors
  Johnson ED.  Gonzalez JP.  Georges A.
Title
 Haemorrhagic fever virus activity in equatorial Africa: distribution
 and prevalence of filovirus reactive antibody in the Central African
 Republic.
Source
  Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene. 
  87(5):530-5, 1993 Sep-Oct.

:::
Unique Identifier
  93232247
Authors
  Schnittler HJ.  Mahner F.  Drenckhahn D.  Klenk HD.  Feldmann H.
Title
  Replication of Marburg virus in human endothelial cells. A possible
  mechanism for the development of viral hemorrhagic disease.
Source
  Journal of Clinical Investigation.  91(4):1301-9, 1993 Apr.

:::
Unique Identifier
  92321376
Authors
 Hayes CG.  Burans JP.  Ksiazek TG.  Del Rosario RA.  Miranda ME. 
 Manaloto CR.  Barrientos AB.  Robles CG.  Dayrit MM.  Peters CJ.
Title
 Outbreak of fatal illness among captive macaques in the Philippines
 caused by an Ebola-related filovirus.
Source
 American Journal of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene.  46(6):664-71, 1992
 Jun.

:::
Unique Identifier
  90352141
Authors
  Anonymous.
Title
  Ebola virus.
Source
  Weekly Epidemiological Record.  65(7):45-7, 1990 Feb 16.

:::
Unique Identifier
  90352141
Authors
  Anonymous.
Title
  Ebola virus.
Source
  Weekly Epidemiological Record.  65(7):45-7, 1990 Feb 16.

:::
Unique Identifier
  90097796
Authors
  Anonymous.
Title
 Update: Ebola-related filovirus infection in nonhuman primates and
 interim guidelines for handling nonhuman primates during transit and
 quarantine.
Source
 MMWR - Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.  39(2):22-4, 29-30, 1990
 Jan 19.

:::
Unique Identifier
  90173547
Authors
 Jahrling PB.  Geisbert TW.  Dalgard DW.  Johnson ED.  Ksiazek TG. 
 Hall WC.  Peters CJ.
Title
 Preliminary report: isolation of Ebola virus from monkeys imported to
 USA.
Source
  Lancet.  335(8688):502-5, 1990 Mar 3.

:::
Unique Identifier
  89317153
Authors
  LeDuc JW.
Title
  Epidemiology of hemorrhagic fever viruses. [Review]
Source
  Reviews of Infectious Diseases.  11 Suppl 4:S730-5, 1989 May-Jun.

:::
Unique Identifier
  88299957
Authors
  Kiley MP.  Cox NJ.  Elliott LH.  Sanchez A.  DeFries R.  Buchmeier
MJ. 
  Richman DD.  McCormick JB.
Title
 Physicochemical properties of Marburg virus: evidence for three
 distinct virus strains and their relationship to Ebola virus.
Source
  Journal of General Virology.  69 ( Pt 8):1957-67, 1988 Aug.

jma/10/12/94

**
if other threads with useful information show up on different groups,
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Preferably post a brief pointer in bionet.virology or
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**

regards.
Harald Feldmann.