| The Times of
Zambia's Shapi Shachinda reports that an outbreak which occurred last week on the
Congo-Tanzanian-Ugandan border, claiming 20 victims, has been positively identified as the
Ebola virus. Africa
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Re the situation in Congo,
anecdotal reports sent here over the last few days from press and third party radio relays
sent by our friends in Australia, indicate that the approximately thirty thousand refugees
in the northeast are in a hot zone on two fronts, the disease and the quiet war which
surrounds them.
Acts of violence are reportedly more common than the press
outside the area is reporting, transportation is extremely difficult, and the general
consensus is that the situation facing the incoming medical teams is - to borrow quotes
from several sources - "unstable", "highly dangerous" and
"unpredictable".
The disease has been widely reported as an Ebola outbreak
but we have no confirmation of a fast kill rate, as in the story above, which is usually a
hallmark of Ebola.
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