This proves there are bigger threats then the swine flu.
A mysterious haemorrhagic disease suspected to be Ebola has killed at least 23 people and infected dozens more in Sudan's under-developed south, a southern Sudanese army official said on Wednesday. The World Health Organisation says Ebola, one of the most virulent viral diseases known to mankind, was discovered in south Sudan and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. Some strains have a death rate of 25 to 90 percent. Kuol Diem Kuol, spokesman for the south Sudan army (SPLA) said blood samples had been sent to laboratories for testing but that doctors suspected it was Ebola. "So far from the SPLA there are 20 killed and three wives (of soldiers) also died," he said. "There is a huge number of the population affected that we don't have the (exact) number of," he added. A U.N. official in the south said they had attempted an assessment but needed more information from local government to be able to assess the situation. Kuol said symptoms included vomiting blood and bleeding from the ears and nose, adding it was very widespread in the Western Bahr al-Ghazal state. A 2004 outbreak of Ebola killed seven people in the south. Death rates in Sudan averaged around 50 percent of victims. Health officials say there is still no known cure for the disease, which is spread through bodily fluids, including blood. South Sudan, emerging from decades of civil war, has little health infrastructure and few medical staff.
The first Ebola outbreak occurred in 1976 in Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or bodily fluids of infected people. The Zaire strain of Ebola is the most lethal with mortality rates of 90 percent or more. The Sudan strain of the Ebola virus causes death in 50 to 90 percent of all clinically ill cases.Meanwhile, U.N. agencies and Sudan's Unity government in Khartoum are expected to begin vaccinating 8.5 million children against polio later this month. 40 cases of the debilitating disease were reported this year in South Sudan, triggering concerns that the virus could spread into neighboring countries. Sudan was polio free until 2004, when an outbreak in the north spread worldwide. It was brought under control two years later, but not before it caused 1,200 new cases.
Originally posted by Kr0n0s
reply to post by Phlynx
Yea, it may be more deadly as far as the mortality rate goes but Ebola doesnt usually spread very far because of the way it is spread but more importantly because of the short amount of time between infection and death.
