ANGOLA: Unidentified illness claims 64 lives

LUANDA, 17 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - An as yet unidentified illness, characterised by fever, severe coughing and vomiting, has killed 64 people in Angola's northern Uige province, prompting a team of investigators from the health ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to investigate the outbreak.

Most of the dead are children under five, but two medical personnel working at the hospital in the provincial capital, also known as Uige, have also fallen victim to the disease.

The Angolan health ministry said in a statement that it had sent an epidemiologist to the province to try and determine the cause of the sickness. With support from WHO, experts have also collected eight blood samples to be analysed by a laboratory in South Africa.

"The Ministry of Health has finalised an agreement of support from WHO Africa, which is sending a team of investigators in the coming days, as well as equipment, to investigate the epidemic."

Officials at the hospital in the provincial capital were isolating cases and treating them according to WHO recommendations. "Until now, there is no elementary evidence to allow us to determine with technical precision the causal agent of this illness," the ministry noted.

Investigations to date indicate that the killer bug appeared in November 2004, with four deaths that month, seven in December, 16 in January 2005 and 23 in February. The health ministry said on Tuesday there had been 13 deaths in March so far, but Radio Ecclesia, the local Catholic radio station, reported on Thursday that three more people had died overnight.

The Ministry of Health was unable to confirm this report, but said it would have more information on Friday.

Symptoms of the disease, which is being described as a haemorrhagic fever, range from fever in all cases to coughs in half the cases and vomiting in around 45 percent of cases, said one humanitarian official.

"At this present stage, a systematic collection of information is pivotal for further understanding of the spread mechanism and accurate diagnosis of the nature of the outbreak," the source said.

The internal repatriation of refugees, who had come back from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), had been suspended at the request of the provincial government.

"There was some onward repatriation from Maquela, at the border with DRC, to Uige city, but the governor has asked for these flights to be suspended because of the outbreak," a humanitarian official explained.

The Ministry of Health said it would enlist the help of local television and radio stations to urge people to go to their nearest health post immediately if anyone developed a fever, and to rigorously enforce basic hygiene practices in the treatment of drinking water and the disposal of rubbish.

[ENDS]