WHO says 70 died from hemorrhagic illness in DRC; denies outbreak is Ebola
Researchers are still trying identify the disease affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo
Aljazeera.com
August 21, 2014
At least 70 people have died in northern Democratic Republic of Congo from an outbreak of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, denying that the illness was Ebola.
A WHO report issued Thursday and seen by Reuters said that 592 people contracted the disease and 70 of them have died. Five health care workers, including one doctor, are among the dead.
“This is not Ebola,” a WHO spokesman said in an email to Reuters on Thursday.
A local priest who asked not to be named said that the illness affected several villages and estimated that the death toll was over 100 people.
Kinshasa sent its health minister, Felix Kabange Numbi, and a team of experts to the region on Wednesday after reports of several deaths.
The outbreak began in the remote jungle province of Equateur, where the first case of Ebola was reported in 1976, prompting speculation that it was the same illness that has killed more than 1,350 people in West Africa and continues to spread.
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