Equatorial Guinea has quarantined more than 200 people and restricted travel after an unknown disease causing hemorrhagic fever killed at least eight people, Health Minister Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba said Friday as the government prepared to test samples.
The outbreak was reported on Feb. 7, and the deaths were linked to people who all participated in a funeral ceremony, according to the preliminary investigation, Ayekaba said, adding that the government had sent samples to neighboring Gabon and will send more to Dakar, Senegal for further testing. More than 200 people, who have no symptoms so far, are being quarantined, and contact tracing is underway. "We are trying to rule out known hemorrhagic fevers that we know of in the region, such as Lassa or Ebola, as quickly as possible," Ayekaba said.
Cameroon has restricted movement near its border with Equatorial Guinea after the "unexplained deaths," said its health minister, Malachie Manaouda, adding that Cameroon imposed the restrictions because of the "high risk of importing this disease and in order to detect and respond to all cases at an early stage. Investigations are underway and epidemiological surveillance has been stepped up with the support of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Manaouda added.
Symptoms of the "unidentified disease" were nosebleeds, fever, joint pain and other ailments that caused death within hours, district health chief Ngu Fankam Roland said in a statement. A health official from the border district in Cameroon said about 20 deaths were recorded Wednesday in villages in Equatorial Guinea's Kie-Ntem province, which borders Cameroon's Olamze district. However, no cases have been detected or suspected in Cameroon.
Source : Reuters
Comments