Hemorrhagic Illness Congo - An outbreak of hemorrhagic gastroenteritis is making its rounds in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo killing at least 70 individuals, Reuters has learned.
The World Health Organization announced the epidemic called hemorrhagic illness Congo on Thursday, all the while denying that the malady was Ebola.
According to the WHO report regarding the hemorrhagic illness Congo outbreak, about 592 people had contracted the disease, 70 of whom already died. Among the deceased were five health care workers, including one doctor.
"This is not Ebola," a spokesman for WHO reportedly said in an email to Reuters on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a local priest who requested his identity to be kept secret claimed that a number of villages had already been inflicted with hemorrhagic illness Congo and approximated the death toll was more than 100 individuals.
Health minister Felix Kabange Numbi, and with a team of experts were sent by Kinshasa - the largest city and capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo - to the affected region on Wednesday following reports of several deaths from the hemorrhagic illness Congo.
It is quite noting that the hemorrhagic illness Congo outbreak originated from the secluded forest province of Equateur where the first case of Ebola was reported in 1976. The similarity in the location of origin has sparked speculation that the same plague that took the life of more than 1,350 people in an outbreak now storming West Africa is also raging in Congo.
Another thing to ponder is that the hemorrhagic illness Congo and the Ebola disease share similar symptoms including vomiting, internal bleeding and diarrhea. The only difference between the two illness, is the fatality rate to which the haemorrhagic gastroenteritis accounts for 12% while the West Africa Ebola outbreak accounts for almost 60%.
According to WHO, four samples from the hemorrhagic illness Congo would be flown from the town of Boende top Kinshasa Friday, for additional testing.
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