News About Congo

MSF Works To Stop Spread of Ebola in Western Kasai

I have not heard anything from the Bulape Hospital since the outbreak.  During the last outbreak in 2007, Bulape Hospital had to quarantine some extended-family members of an Ebola victim.

We pray that the Ebola outbreak will be contained soon.  The "All Clear" signal will not be declared until 45-60 days after the last patient is isolated and recovered.

DRC: MSF Works To Stop Spread of Ebola in Western Kasai (12/31/08) | Doctors Without Borders.

The number of people with suspected Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the Mweka district of Western Kasai Province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is now 38, including 12 who have died. This is the second outbreak of its kind in just over a year in Western Kasai; the current outbreak claimed its first life on November 27.

Last week, international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), sent a team of expert medical and non-medical staff to the area. A team of 16 are now working around the clock to contain this deadly epidemic.

MSF built a small isolation unit in Kaluamba, the worst-affected village in Mweka district. Here, to reduce the risk of the virus spreading, patients who are already sick, along with others who are suspected of having Ebola, are separated from the community and cared for. Currently, there are two patients in this special ward.

Death Toll from Ebola is now 12

Doctors with Borders (MSF) says 12 persons have died from the Ebola Outbreak near Mweka.  It appeared to have spread to other isolated villages.

Bloomberg.com: Africa.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever, one of the most feared infectious diseases, may have killed 12 people and infected at least 26 others, in an area of the Democratic Republic of Congo where a deadly outbreak occurred 15 months ago, a medical aid organization said.

Ebola infections may be occurring in ``new pockets'' in the Mweka district of Western Kasai Province, said Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders. The current outbreak claimed its first life on Nov. 27, the Geneva-based group said in an e-mailed statement today.

No New Deaths From Ebola

This is good news!

The outbreak appears to be fallen.  No new cases or death have been reported.  Also, it appears just plain old extreme poverty conditions maybe causing some of the deaths.

News | Africa - Reuters.com.

GENEVA, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday that no deaths from the Ebola virus had been confirmed in a reported outbreak of the disease in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Spokesman Gregory Hartl said that of 35 suspected cases -- including 11 deaths -- in Western Kasai province, only two were confirmed as Ebola, and both these patients were still alive.

"It seems pretty certain that other diseases are also involved," he told Reuters. Strigellosis, a relatively easily treated bacterial disease like cholera, was likely to be one of these, the spokesman added.

On Dec. 25, DRC Health Minister Auguste Mopipi Mukulumanya said analysis of blood and stool samples taken in the village of Kalwamba at the heart of the apparent outbreak had shown that an Ebola epidemic was under way.

The virus, which is highly contagious and causes vomiting, diarrhoea and, in many cases, both internal and external bleeding, was reported in the area on Nov. 27.

Uganda rebels deny killing 200 people

The Lord's Resistance Army blames a breakaway group for the killings.  This is a quick excuse and explanation.

Faradje, Doruma and Gurba villages are located in Orientale Province of Congo.  The province is a large section in northeast Congo which is bordered by Sudan (to the north) and Uganda (to the east).

Orientale Province is just north of two Kivus (North Kivu and South Kivu) which has been making the news.  The Kivus is bordered by Uganda and Rwanda.

All these provinces do not border the Kasai Provinces (Oriental/East and Occidental/West) and are great distances to the east and northeast.

DAILY NATION - Uganda rebels deny killing 200 people.

Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group yesterday distanced itself from the killing of more than 200 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The attacks, which started on Christmas Day, have left close to 200 people dead and more than 20,000 have fled DRC, according to UN humanitarian agency, Ocha.

But speaking to the Nation on phone on Tuesday, LRA Peace delegation leader David Nyekorach Matsanga blamed the attacks on group’s breakaway combatants who he said have since joined the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF). According to Dr Matsanga, the attacks were carried out by Battalion 105 on orders of the government of Uganda.

According to the UN, the killings were reported to have been carried out between December 25 and December 27 in Faradje, Doruma and Gurba villages by LRA fighters fleeing a two-week-old multinational military offensive led by Uganda.

Ugandan Rebel Group killing Congolese civilians

The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, killed innocent people.  This rebel group operates in northeastern Congo.

International news - Radio Netherlands Worldwide - English.

A United Nations agency says a Ugandan rebel movement killed nearly 200 people in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo during Christmas. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the Lord's Resistance Army killed 189 people over three days in the villages of Faradje, Doruma and Gurba. A spokesman for the rebels has denied the killings.

Earlier reports said that 45 bodies, apparently also killed by the rebels, had been found in a church in Doruma. It is unclear whether those victims were included in the total announced by the OCHA on Monday.

The Lord's Resistance Army is led by Joseph Kony, who is being sought by a UN tribunal for war crimes. The armies of Uganda, Congo and Sudan have recently begun a military offensive against movement.

Death Total Inches Up to 11 in Ebola Outbreak

This outbreak appears it will be not as bad as in 2007.  This same area experienced 26 deaths between August and September 2007.

AFP: Two more dead from Ebola outbreak in DR Congo: MSF.

Two more people have died from an Ebola outbreak in central DR Congo, bringing the tally to 11 dead from the highly contagious but rare disease, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Sunday.

"This Sunday morning, a women with symptoms... of Ebola died," MSF spokesman Francois Dumont told AFP.

A man also died from Ebola on Thursday, he said.

UN mission sent troops to Eastern on reports of civilian massacre

UN mission sent troops to E DRC on reports of civilian massacre _English_Xinhua.

The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Friday sent a company of Congolese government troops to the northeast of the country on reports of civilian massacre by Uganda rebels.

Elements of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) had massacred at least 15 villagers, according to a UN news release. The rebels, fleeing a joint military operation by the DRC, Uganda and Southern Sudan to flush them out of a remote national park in north-eastern DRC, killed the villagers in Faradje, 120 km east of Dungu.

The UN peacekeepers are "gravely concerned by these reports from reliable sources," said the mission, known by its French acronym MONUC.

No Additional Deaths Reported

Thanks to rapid detection and response by local health officials, there have been no additional deaths to date. However, it may be just a delay in reporting due to the isolation and clearance process.

There is no independent reporting network in Congo. After I asked the outbreak, some people in the Congo had heard rumors while others were tight-lipped.

International news - Radio Netherlands Worldwide - English: "Aid organisation Doctors Without Borders has set up an isolation unit in the Democratic Republic of Congo for people infected with the Ebola virus. Sufferers have been placed in quarantine to prevent any further spread of the disease."

Ebola Confirmed Near Mweka

For the second time in just over a year, Ebola outbreak confirm near Mweka.

KINSHASA, Dec. 25 (Reuters) - A mysterious disease that has killed nine people in southern Democratic Republic of Congo has been identified as the deadly Ebola virus, the Congolese health minister said on Thursday.
The virus appeared in southern Western Kasai province on Nov. 27, and blood and stool samples were sent to laboratories in Gabon and South Africa for identification.
"Following the analysis of samples taken in (the village of) Kalwamba, it is now recognised that we are facing an epidemic of the viral haemorrhagic fever Ebola," said health minister Auguste Mopipi Mukulumanya.

Another Suspected Ebola/Marburg Outbreak

Testing by health authorities in progess to identify causes of deaths in Mweka.

Mweka was near outbreak in 2007 that killed 187 persons.

Mweka is 20 miles from Bulape.

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DRC: Nine die, dozens infected by suspected haemorrhagic fever

KINSHASA, 24 December 2008 (IRIN) - An outbreak of a suspected haemorrhagic fever has killed nine people and infected 92 more in Kasai Occidental, according to medical personnel.


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Http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=82082