Kinshasa - Democratic Republic
of Congo has sent its health
minister and a team of experts
to the remote northern
Equateur province after several
people died there from a disease with Ebola-like
symptoms, a local official and
a professor said on
Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if
there was any connection
with Ebola. An epidemic of
that disease has killed more
than 1 200 people in Guinea,
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. "An illness is spreading in
Boende but we don't know
the origin," said Michel Wangi,
a spokesperson for the
governor's office. "The
government has sent a team of experts from the INRB
[National Institute of
Biomedical Research] this
morning led by the health
minister [Felix] Kabange
Numbi and acting governor Sebastian Impeto." A professor accompanying the
delegation in the presidential
plane confirmed that they
were en route this morning to
find out "the exact nature of
the illness that caused the Boende deaths". An Equateur resident who
asked not to be named said
that around ten people had
died, including four health care
workers, after suffering from
fever, diarrhoea and bleeding from the ears and nostrils - all
symptoms of the deadly Ebola
virus. Highly-contagious, Ebola can
kill up to 90% of its victims.
There is no known vaccine and
the few forms of treatment
that exist are experimental. Congo does not share a border
with any of the countries
affected by the virus in West
Africa. But the country has
seen several outbreaks since
the first case was detected near the Ebola River in
northern Congo in 1976.http://m.news24.com/nigeria/Africa/News/Illness-with-Ebola-like-symptoms-kills-several-in-Congo-20140820-2

Such a terrible place to have such disease. The Lord is their strength.