X-Message-Number: 4377
Date: Wed, 10 May 1995 01:47:13 -0400 (EDT)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Ebola Virus

Mike Darwin suggested that I should post this. By the time you read it,
there may already be additional news in the usual media. Ebola Virus is
considered too dangerous for study at CDC in Atlanta. 

	KINSHASA, Zaire (AP) -- Soldiers blocked routes into a city of
600,000 that was placed under quarantine Tuesday after more than
100 people died of a mysterious disease that may be caused by one
of the world's deadliest viruses.
	A consultant for the World Health Organization said the Ebola
virus was responsible for the deaths. The U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said it was sending a team of investigators
equipped with protective suits and respirators immediately, in
cooperation with the World Health Organization.
	``With the little we know, we're going to have to assume that
this could be Biosafety Level 4,'' the highest level of concern of
infection, said Dr. Rima Khabbaz, an infectious disease specialist
at the centers.
	Dr. Muyembe Tamfun, a microbiologist and consultant to the World
Health Organization, blamed the Ebola virus for the illness that
began sweeping Kikwit, 375 miles east of Kinshasa, the capital, in
mid-April.
	Ebola, which causes hemorrhaging, fevers and vomiting, was
considered the most deadly virus before the appearance of HIV,
which causes AIDS. Ebola kills about 90 percent of those it infects
and there is no treatment or vaccine.
	The virus' ferocity has given it notoriety in popular culture.
Ebola was the virus fought in the movie ``Robin Cook's `Virus,'''
which appeared Monday on NBC television. The recent movie
``Outbreak'' concerned a hemorrhagic virus that first appeared in
Zaire, although it was not specifically named as Ebola.
	Doctors have not confirmed the cause of the outbreak, Khabbaz
said. She acknowledged that Ebola ``is a suspect any time you hear
of anything with bleeding and hemorrhage.''
	Investigators hope to reach Kikwit in a few days and the
diagnosis should be relatively rapid ``if it's something we know
and have dealt with,'' Khabbaz said.
	In 1976, 274 of 300 people infected in an Ebola outbreak in one
village in Zaire died. Ebola is spread through bodily fluids and
secretions, though not through casual contact.
	Officials at Zaire's health ministry say the outbreak began
April 10 when a surgical patient at Kikwit's hospital contaminated
medical personnel there.
	Sixty-three people remained hospitalized with the illness in
Kikwit on Tuesday. Health officials equipped with gloves, masks and
other protective equipment were being sent to the city to deal with
the outbreak, and Tamfun appealed for international assistance.


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