Ebola Feared as 17 Die in Congo

Medical experts from the World Health Organization flew to central Congo on Thursday to investigate the deaths of 17 people with Ebola-like symptoms, state radio said.

The deaths began Nov. 17 in Dekese, a village about 450 miles east of Kinshasa, the capital, U.N. officials said.

At least 30 people, including the 17 who died, exhibited symptoms similar to those associated with Ebola, said Auguy Ebeja, a physician with the aid group Doctors Without Borders.

It was the second feared outbreak of Ebola this week. Six people died of a mysterious illness in Gabon, another Central African country.

“It is a hemorrhagic fever, but we still have to check whether this is Ebola or not,” Ebeja said. “We are getting prepared to deal with an emergency situation.”

Teams from Doctors Without Borders and the Congolese Health Ministry accompanied the WHO experts to the affected area in West Kasai province, radio reported.

Hemorrhagic fevers, which include Marburg and Ebola, cause high fevers and internal bleeding.

Ebola, which is passed on through contact with body fluids and begins with aches and fever similar to flu symptoms, struck the town of Kikwit in 1995, killing 245 people. An Ebola outbreak in Uganda killed 173 people last year.

Only in the final stages, when the virus eats through the victim’s veins and arteries, causing massive internal hemorrhaging and prompting blood to pour out of the body’s orifices, is it clear that Ebola has struck. The mortality rate is 90%.

Victims of Ebola, named after the river in Congo where it was identified in 1976, bleed to death in a matter of days. There is no known cure and no vaccine.