Zaire outbreak news synopsis: Part 1

[S. M. Fitzgerald]

Bionet.virology:

Following is a synopsis of news reports about recent filovirus activity
in Africa, culled from US and European newswires.  Every attempt has
been made to give credit where credit is due.  I will try to post an
update every twenty-four hours, if demand is sufficient.  Comment to
the addresses below.

04-08-95, 7:06 PM:  Reuters reports that a Swiss scientist in Africa's
Ivory Coast is infected with an unspecified variant of the Ebola virus
as she performs a necropsy on a chimpanzee.  The scientist is evacuated
to Switzerland and, at the time of the report, is still alive.

05-09-95, 12:54 PM:  The Associated Press reports that soldiers are
guarding roads into Kikwit, Zaire, after more than 100 people die of an
unidentified disease.  A World Health Organization (WHO) consultant,
Dr. Muyembe Tamfun, blames the Ebola virus for the epidemic.  Zaire's
health ministry says the outbreak began April 10 when a surgical
patient at the Kikwit hospital infected medical workers there. 
Sixty-three people are now hospitalized with the illness in Kikwit.

05-09-95, 1:33 PM EDT:  The Associated Press reports that, among the
Kikwit victims, are two doctors and four Italian missionaries.

05-10-95, 2:21 AM:  Reuters says The Washington Post has reported that
as many as fifty  people have died of a hemorrhagic fever, possibly
Ebola, in Zaire.

05-10-95, 3:35 AM:  Reuters reports that WHO puts the Kikwit death
count at fifty-nine.

05-10-95, 4:25 AM:  Reuters reports that government officials in Zaire
say at least ninety people have died from either a hemorrhagic fever or
dysentery in the Kikwit area.  Zaire sets up a special medical
commission; one doctor with the commission tells Reuters, "The
situation could get totally out of control."  Reports from Kikwit say
the general hospital there is deserted.  The province in which Kikwit
is situated, Bandundu Province, i
s home to nearly five million people.

05-10-95, 5:16 AM:  Reuters reports that, since January 1, thirty-three
cases of suspected hemorrhagic fever have been reported.

05-10-95, 5:18 AM:  Reuters reports that two Italian nuns working as
nurses are among the dead.

05-10-95, 5:46 AM:   Reuters reports that Zaire government sources put
the death toll at ninety.

05-10-95, 7:30 AM:  The Associated Press reports that Dr. Peter Piot,
head of the UN AIDS program and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, says
the epidemic in Zaire has all the hallmarks of Ebola.

05-10-95, 8:36 AM:  Reuters reports that both dysentery and a
hemorrhagic fever are killing people in Zaire.  Government officials
put the cumulative death toll of the two unrelated illnesses at ninety.
Three of the dead, says Zaire state television, are Italian nuns.

05-10-95, 9:15 AM:  Reuters talks to representatives of Little Sisters
of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns based in Bergamo, Italy.  The
order says that two of its members are in "stable but grave condition"
in Kikwit. Another two members of the order, which specializes in
nursing, died in Kikwit the previous week. Two Bergamo nuns who
attended the funerals of the Zaire nuns, one of whom was their sister,
have been in strict quarantine since their return to Italy on Saturday.

05-10-95, 9:44 AM:  The Associated Press reports that Doctors Without
Borders, a medical aid group based in Belgium, says that the Zaire city
of Mosango, seventy-five miles west of Kikwit, may also have an
outbreak of an Ebola-like disease.  At least ten people in Mosango have
been infected; three have died.

05-10-95, 9:46 AM:  Reuters reports that an Italian missionary says a
fever with Ebola-like symptoms wiped out two villages in the Azande
region of southern Sudan last year.  The missionary told Reuters that
about 200 people died in the the Sudan's Nzara district last year; he
also said that Nzara had a similar outbreak years before.

05-10-95, 4:31 PM:  CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases Deputy
Director Dr. Ruth Berkelman tells Reuters that CDC planned to send a
researcher to the Ivory Coast [EDITOR'S NOTE:  SEE ENTRY FOR 04-08-95]
to investigate the Ebola case that emerged there on April 8, but,
"Instead, they've been diverted to Zaire."

05-10-95, 4:46 PM:  Reuters reports that the top civil servant in
Zaire's health ministry told state television today that the first
cases of the virus appeared on March 27.

05-10-95, 5:45 MST:  On the NBC Nightly News, NBC News correspondent
Robert Bazell reports:  "Sources tell NBC News that tests at this
maximum containment laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control in
Atlanta have confirmed that the outbreak is due to the Ebola virus, one
of the most deadly infectious agents known to humanity. . . . Experts
know the virus is transmitted by blood, but they worry that there may
also be airborne transmission."

I will try to post an update again tomorrow at about this time.

All best,
S. M. Fitzgerald
73330.3503 at compuserve.com
Cyberiot at ix.netcom.com
V-mail:  602/838-1657



 
Bionet.virology:

Following is a synopsis of news reports about recent filovirus activity
in Africa, culled from US and European newswires.  Every attempt has
been made to give credit where credit is due.  I will try to post an
update ever
y twenty-four hours, if demand is sufficient.  Comment to the addresses
below.

04-08-95, 7:06 PM:  Reuters reports that a Swiss scientist in Africa's
Ivory Coast is infected with an unspecified variant of the Ebola virus
as she performs a necropsy on a chimpanzee.  The scientist is evacuated
to Swit
zerland and, at the time of the report, is still alive.

05-09-95, 12:54 PM:  The Associated Press reports that soldiers are
guarding roads into Kikwit, Zaire, after more than 100 people die of an
unidentified disease.  A World Health Organization (WHO) consultant,
Dr. Muyembe 
Tamfun, blames the Ebola virus for the epidemic.  Zaire's health
ministry says the outbreak began April 10 when a surgical patient at
the Kikwit hospital infected medical workers there.  Sixty-three people
are now hospita
lized with the illness in Kikwit.

05-09-95, 1:33 PM EDT:  The Associated Press reports that, among the
Kikwit victims, are two doctors and four Italian missionaries.

05-10-95, 2:21 AM:  Reuters says The Washington Post has reported that
as many as fifty  people have died of a hemorrhagic fever, possibly
Ebola, in Zaire.

05-10-95, 3:35 AM:  Reuters reports that WHO puts the Kikwit death
count at fifty-nine.

05-10-95, 4:25 AM:  Reuters reports that government officials in Zaire
say at least ninety people have died from either a hemorrhagic fever or
dysentery in the Kikwit area.  Zaire sets up a special medical
commission; one
 doctor with the commission tells Reuters, "The situation could get
totally out of control."  Reports from Kikwit say the general hospital
there is deserted.  The province in which Kikwit is situated, Bandundu
Province, i
s home to nearly five million people.

05-10-95, 5:16 AM:  Reuters reports that, since January 1, thirty-three
cases of suspected hemorrhagic fever have been reported.

05-10-95, 5:18 AM:  Reuters reports that two Italian nuns working as
nurses are among the dead.

05-10-95, 5:46 AM:   Reuters reports that Zaire government sources put
the death toll at ninety.

05-10-95, 7:30 AM:  The Associated Press reports that Dr. Peter Piot,
head of the UN AIDS program and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, says
the epidemic in Zaire has all the hallmarks of Ebola.

05-10-95, 8:36 AM:  Reuters reports that both dysentery and a
hemorrhagic fever are killing people in Zaire.  Government officials
put the cumulative death toll of the two unrelated illnesses at ninety.
 Three of the dead
, says Zaire state television, are Italian nuns.

05-10-95, 9:15 AM:  Reuters talks to representatives of Little Sisters
of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns based in Bergamo, Italy.  The
order says that two of its members are in "stable but grave condition"
in Kikwit.
  Another two members of the order, which specializes in nursing, died
in Kikwit the previous week. Two Bergamo nuns who attended the funerals
of the Zaire nuns, one of whom was their sister, have been in strict
quarantin
e since their return to Italy on Saturday.

05-10-95, 9:44 AM:  The Associated Press reports that Doctors Without
Borders, a medical aid group based in Belgium, says that the Zaire city
of Mosango, seventy-five miles west of Kikwit, may also have an
outbreak of an 
Ebola-like disease.  At least ten people in Mosango have been infected;
three have died.

05-10-95, 9:46 AM:  Reuters reports that an Italian missionary says a
fever with Ebola-like symptoms wiped out two villages in the Azande
region of southern Sudan last year.  The missionary told Reuters that
about 200 peo
ple died in the the Sudan's Nzara district last year; he also said that
Nzara had a similar outbreak years before.

05-10-95, 4:31 PM:  CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases Deputy
Director Dr. Ruth Berkelman tells Reuters that CDC planned to send a
researcher to the Ivory Coast [EDITOR'S NOTE:  SEE ENTRY FOR 04-08-95]
to investi
gate the Ebola case that emerged there on April 8, but, "Instead,
they've been diverted to Zaire."

05-10-95, 4:46 PM:  Reuters reports that the top civil servant in
Zaire's health ministry told state television today that the first
cases of the virus appeared on March 27.

05-10-95, 5:45 MST:  On the NBC Nightly News, NBC News correspondent
Robert Bazell reports:  "Sources tell NBC News that tests at this
maximum containment laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control in
Atlanta have conf
irmed that the outbreak is due to the Ebola virus, one of the most
deadly infectious agents known to humanity. . . . Experts know the
virus is transmitted by blood, but they worry that there may also be
airborne transmiss
ion."

I will try to post an update again tomorrow at about this time.

All best,
S. M. Fitzgerald
73330.3503 at compuserve.com
Cyberiot at ix.netcom.com
V-mail:  602/838-1657



 
Bionet.virology:

Following is a synopsis of news reports about recent filovirus activity
in Africa, culled from US and European newswires.  Every attempt has
been made to give credit where credit is due.  I will try to post an
update ever
y twenty-four hours, if demand is sufficient.  Comment to the addresses
below.

04-08-95, 7:06 PM:  Reuters reports that a Swiss scientist in Africa's
Ivory Coast is infected with an unspecified variant of the Ebola virus
as she performs a necropsy on a chimpanzee.  The scientist is evacuated
to Swit
zerland and, at the time of the report, is still alive.

05-09-95, 12:54 PM:  The Associated Press reports that soldiers are
guarding roads into Kikwit, Zaire, after more than 100 people die of an
unidentified disease.  A World Health Organization (WHO) consultant,
Dr. Muyembe 
Tamfun, blames the Ebola virus for the epidemic.  Zaire's health
ministry says the outbreak began April 10 when a surgical patient at
the Kikwit hospital infected medical workers there.  Sixty-three people
are now hospita
lized with the illness in Kikwit.

05-09-95, 1:33 PM EDT:  The Associated Press reports that, among the
Kikwit victims, are two doctors and four Italian missionaries.

05-10-95, 2:21 AM:  Reuters says The Washington Post has reported that
as many as fifty  people have died of a hemorrhagic fever, possibly
Ebola, in Zaire.

05-10-95, 3:35 AM:  Reuters reports that WHO puts the Kikwit death
count at fifty-nine.

05-10-95, 4:25 AM:  Reuters reports that government officials in Zaire
say at least ninety people have died from either a hemorrhagic fever or
dysentery in the Kikwit area.  Zaire sets up a special medical
commission; one
 doctor with the commission tells Reuters, "The situation could get
totally out of control."  Reports from Kikwit say the general hospital
there is deserted.  The province in which Kikwit is situated, Bandundu
Province, i
s home to nearly five million people.

05-10-95, 5:16 AM:  Reuters reports that, since January 1, thirty-three
cases of suspected hemorrhagic fever have been reported.

05-10-95, 5:18 AM:  Reuters reports that two Italian nuns working as
nurses are among the dead.

05-10-95, 5:46 AM:   Reuters reports that Zaire government sources put
the death toll at ninety.

05-10-95, 7:30 AM:  The Associated Press reports that Dr. Peter Piot,
head of the UN AIDS program and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, says
the epidemic in Zaire has all the hallmarks of Ebola.

05-10-95, 8:36 AM:  Reuters reports that both dysentery and a
hemorrhagic fever are killing people in Zaire.  Government officials
put the cumulative death toll of the two unrelated illnesses at ninety.
 Three of the dead
, says Zaire state television, are Italian nuns.

05-10-95, 9:15 AM:  Reuters talks to representatives of Little Sisters
of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns based in Bergamo, Italy.  The
order says that two of its members are in "stable but grave condition"
in Kikwit.
  Another two members of the order, which specializes in nursing, died
in Kikwit the previous week. Two Bergamo nuns who attended the funerals
of the Zaire nuns, one of whom was their sister, have been in strict
quarantin
e since their return to Italy on Saturday.

05-10-95, 9:44 AM:  The Associated Press reports that Doctors Without
Borders, a medical aid group based in Belgium, says that the Zaire city
of Mosango, seventy-five miles west of Kikwit, may also have an
outbreak of an 
Ebola-like disease.  At least ten people in Mosango have been infected;
three have died.

05-10-95, 9:46 AM:  Reuters reports that an Italian missionary says a
fever with Ebola-like symptoms wiped out two villages in the Azande
region of southern Sudan last year.  The missionary told Reuters that
about 200 peo
ple died in the the Sudan's Nzara district last year; he also said that
Nzara had a similar outbreak years before.

05-10-95, 4:31 PM:  CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases Deputy
Director Dr. Ruth Berkelman tells Reuters that CDC planned to send a
researcher to the Ivory Coast [EDITOR'S NOTE:  SEE ENTRY FOR 04-08-95]
to investi
gate the Ebola case that emerged there on April 8, but, "Instead,
they've been diverted to Zaire."

05-10-95, 4:46 PM:  Reuters reports that the top civil servant in
Zaire's health ministry told state television today that the first
cases of the virus appeared on March 27.

05-10-95, 5:45 MST:  On the NBC Nightly News, NBC News correspondent
Robert Bazell reports:  "Sources tell NBC News that tests at this
maximum containment laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control in
Atlanta have conf
irmed that the outbreak is due to the Ebola virus, one of the most
deadly infectious agents known to humanity. . . . Experts know the
virus is transmitted by blood, but they worry that there may also be
airborne transmiss
ion."

I will try to post an update again tomorrow at about this time.

All best,
S. M. Fitzgerald
73330.3503 at compuserve.com
Cyberiot at ix.netcom.com
V-mail:  602/838-1657



 
Bionet.virology:

Following is a synopsis of news reports about recent filovirus activity
in Africa, culled from US and European newswires.  Every attempt has
been made to give credit where credit is due.  I will try to post an
update ever
y twenty-four hours, if demand is sufficient.  Comment to the addresses
below.

04-08-95, 7:06 PM:  Reuters reports that a Swiss scientist in Africa's
Ivory Coast is infected with an unspecified variant of the Ebola virus
as she performs a necropsy on a chimpanzee.  The scientist is evacuated
to Swit
zerland and, at the time of the report, is still alive.

05-09-95, 12:54 PM:  The Associated Press reports that soldiers are
guarding roads into Kikwit, Zaire, after more than 100 people die of an
unidentified disease.  A World Health Organization (WHO) consultant,
Dr. Muyembe 
Tamfun, blames the Ebola virus for the epidemic.  Zaire's health
ministry says the outbreak began April 10 when a surgical patient at
the Kikwit hospital infected medical workers there.  Sixty-three people
are now hospita
lized with the illness in Kikwit.

05-09-95, 1:33 PM EDT:  The Associated Press reports that, among the
Kikwit victims, are two doctors and four Italian missionaries.

05-10-95, 2:21 AM:  Reuters says The Washington Post has reported that
as many as fifty  people have died of a hemorrhagic fever, possibly
Ebola, in Zaire.

05-10-95, 3:35 AM:  Reuters reports that WHO puts the Kikwit death
count at fifty-nine.

05-10-95, 4:25 AM:  Reuters reports that government officials in Zaire
say at least ninety people have died from either a hemorrhagic fever or
dysentery in the Kikwit area.  Zaire sets up a special medical
commission; one
 doctor with the commission tells Reuters, "The situation could get
totally out of control."  Reports from Kikwit say the general hospital
there is deserted.  The province in which Kikwit is situated, Bandundu
Province, i
s home to nearly five million people.

05-10-95, 5:16 AM:  Reuters reports that, since January 1, thirty-three
cases of suspected hemorrhagic fever have been reported.

05-10-95, 5:18 AM:  Reuters reports that two Italian nuns working as
nurses are among the dead.

05-10-95, 5:46 AM:   Reuters reports that Zaire government sources put
the death toll at ninety.

05-10-95, 7:30 AM:  The Associated Press reports that Dr. Peter Piot,
head of the UN AIDS program and co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, says
the epidemic in Zaire has all the hallmarks of Ebola.

05-10-95, 8:36 AM:  Reuters reports that both dysentery and a
hemorrhagic fever are killing people in Zaire.  Government officials
put the cumulative death toll of the two unrelated illnesses at ninety.
 Three of the dead
, says Zaire state television, are Italian nuns.

05-10-95, 9:15 AM:  Reuters talks to representatives of Little Sisters
of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns based in Bergamo, Italy.  The
order says that two of its members are in "stable but grave condition"
in Kikwit.
  Another two members of the order, which specializes in nursing, died
in Kikwit the previous week. Two Bergamo nuns who attended the funerals
of the Zaire nuns, one of whom was their sister, have been in strict
quarantin
e since their return to Italy on Saturday.

05-10-95, 9:44 AM:  The Associated Press reports that Doctors Without
Borders, a medical aid group based in Belgium, says that the Zaire city
of Mosango, seventy-five miles west of Kikwit, may also have an
outbreak of an 
Ebola-like disease.  At least ten people in Mosango have been infected;
three have died.

05-10-95, 9:46 AM:  Reuters reports that an Italian missionary says a
fever with Ebola-like symptoms wiped out two villages in the Azande
region of southern Sudan last year.  The missionary told Reuters that
about 200 peo
ple died in the the Sudan's Nzara district last year; he also said that
Nzara had a similar outbreak years before.

05-10-95, 4:31 PM:  CDC National Center for Infectious Diseases Deputy
Director Dr. Ruth Berkelman tells Reuters that CDC planned to send a
researcher to the Ivory Coast [EDITOR'S NOTE:  SEE ENTRY FOR 04-08-95]
to investi
gate the Ebola case that emerged there on April 8, but, "Instead,
they've been diverted to Zaire."

05-10-95, 4:46 PM:  Reuters reports that the top civil servant in
Zaire's health ministry told state television today that the first
cases of the virus appeared on March 27.

05-10-95, 5:45 MST:  On the NBC Nightly News, NBC News correspondent
Robert Bazell reports:  "Sources tell NBC News that tests at this
maximum containment laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control in
Atlanta have conf
irmed that the outbreak is due to the Ebola virus, one of the most
deadly infectious agents known to humanity. . . . Experts know the
virus is transmitted by blood, but they worry that there may also be
airborne transmiss
ion."

I will try to post an update again tomorrow at about this time.

All best,
S. M. Fitzgerald
73330.3503 at compuserve.com
Cyberiot at ix.netcom.com
V-mail:  602/838-1657