WHO REPORTS EBOLA FEVER IN GABON

20 February 1996

Press Release
H/2899

WHO REPORTS EBOLA FEVER IN GABON

19960220 GENEVA, 19 February (WHO) -- Scientists working on specimens from nine of the youth hospitalized in Makokou, the provincial capital of Ogooue-Ivindo in Gabon, have confirmed the initial diagnosis of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever by isolation of the Ebola virus. That was done at the Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville in Gabon and at the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre in the Institute Pasteur in Paris. Both the Ministry of Health of Gabon and the WHO have been officially informed.

As of today, 20 cases and 7 suspected cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever have been reported in Gabon, 13 of them fatal. The 20 cases were reported in Mayibout II, an isolated village with some 150 inhabitants, which is situated some 400 kilometers east of the capital city, Libreville. Twelve of the dead have been confirmed to have had direct contact with the blood of a dead chimpanzee. The thirteenth, most recent death, was a six-month child of one of the original 19 cases. Another child of the same parent has developed fever and has been hospitalized in Makokou.

Of those 19 cases originally admitted in the Makokou provincial hospital on 5 and 6 February with symptoms of high fever, bloody diarrhoea and severely reddened eyes, 9 patients have died in the hospital and 3 back in their home village of Mayibout II. The average age of the patients was 18 years. No cases of Ebola among the health personnel of the hospital have been registered, though some might have been exposed to the virus and could be infected.

The international team of medical experts with members from the Gabonese Ministry of Health, La Cooperation Francaise, (the French bilateral aid agency), the Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville (Gabon), the Institute Pasteur and the WHO arrived in Mayibout II on Friday night, 16 February, after a nine-hour river trip by motorized pirogues.

The team is investigating all possible contacts of the patients, as well as rumors of illness in two neighbouring villages -- Mayibout I and Mvadi, a village of 800 inhabitants 10 kilometres from Mayibout II. Persons who accompanied the patients to the hospital in Makokou and who returned with the dead bodies to bury them are known to live in those two villages.

In Mayibout II, the international team has identified, isolated and put under close surveillance 6 persons with symptoms which could be early Ebola

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infection. A small field laboratory is being established in the village to text blood specimens from the local population suspected to have the infection. In the Mayibout bush, a number of dead animals have been found: one chimpanzee; one wild cat; one antelope; and two gorillas. A team of the Gabonese Government is ensuring surveillance of the animal life in the affected area.

In Makokou, part of the international team is searching for 10 additional persons who accompanied patients from Mayibout II to the provincial hospital. This team is also searching for any persons with symptoms which could be early Ebola infection. At the request of the Gabonese Government, la Cooperation Francaise has sent to Gabon the necessary protection material, transport means and drugs. The logistics system of the French military in Gabon was also put at the disposal of the Gabonese Ministry of Health.

The WHO Division in Geneva dealing with new and re-emerging diseases has stated that, for the time being, the WHO did not recommend any travel restrictions to or within Gabon. If proper isolation of all persons with suspected Ebola infection was ensured, there was no need for quarantine measures. The early action taken by the Gabonese Ministry of Health was prompt and effective. With the precautions taken, and investigation of the outbreak and sensitization campaigns of the population in the affected area under way, it was hoped that the spread of the epidemic would be minimized.

The outbreak in Gabon was the second recent outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Africa. In May 1995, the disease struck in Zaire infecting 316 and killing 245 people, a 77 per cent case-fatality rate. There was also one single case of Ebola in Côte d'Ivoire last December. The patient survived.

The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with blood secretions or body fluids from the infected person. The symptoms of the disease include the sudden onset of fever, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea and massive bleeding. The incubation period is between 2 and 21 days. No specific treatment or vaccine against the Ebola haemorrhagic fever exists.

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