4/11/2005

Health Workers Race to Block Deadly Virus in Angolan Town

This is the virus they used in the second season finale of Millennium:

The race to contain the outbreak of Marburg, a deadly relative of the better-known Ebola virus, is centered here in the town of Uíge (pronounced weezh), where health officials fear the makings of a public health disaster that could spread elsewhere in Angola and beyond.

The number of victims is already the largest ever recorded from a Marburg outbreak, and there is no effective treatment. Nine out of 10 people who get the virus die, usually within a week.

The first cases of the virus were identified in the pediatric ward where Mrs. Pinto had worked. Despite incessant warnings on local radio that families of the sick should neither treat them at home nor touch them if they die, Mrs. Pinto's family cared for her in their house and prepared her for burial. The virus is spread by bodily fluids, and even stray drops of spittle or beads of sweat can lead to death.
...
The workers' effort is organized, determined, swift. But not as swift as the epidemic, which as of Sunday had claimed at least 193 lives, almost all in the past month.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment