Marburg Toll in Angola Balloons to 255.....

[Media_Lies_Daily]

Marburg Toll in Angola Balloons to 255
<http://www.recombinomics.com/News/04170501/Marburg_Toll_255.html>

QUOTE:

The rising death toll in the absence of patients in the isolation wards in Uige and Luanda supports the observation that patients are dying in neighborhoods and avoiding hospitals. These numbers would also suggest that infected individuals are moving out of the area. However, it is difficult to see why such movement would not result in transmission in the new areas, because the families would not be trained in infection control. The large number of fatal Marburg cases in health care workers indicates that transmission associated with close contact with dead or dying patients is quite efficient.

The increase in patients follows a period of reclassification of Marburg cases. Health reports from last week suggested the requirements for inclusion in the case tally were being tightened. All of the new reported cases in Uige for April 13 were laboratory confirmed, suggesting lab confirmation may be a new requirement for inclusion as a reported case. That requirement may be more easily met in Uige, since there is now a new lab set up with rapid turnaround of testing data. However, a lab confirmation requirement may produce a significant undercount, especially in more distant provinces. Sample collection may be absent in some cases, and in others transport of collected samples to testing facilities may produce sample degradation and false negatives.

The reclassification did eliminate cases from Kwanza Sul, where there were cases clustered in 3 adjacent municipalities. The reported cases in Zaire were also eliminated administratively by reclassifying them.

Efforts to manage an outbreak by simply administratively eliminating cases because of unrealistic requirements can lead to gross undercounts and undetected spread of virus. The analogies with the bird flu management in southeast Asia have some striking parallels. The bird flu undercounts were driven by several factors, including unreported data, untested patients, and using tests with poor sensitivity. False negatives due to poor testing procedure or sample degradation also contributed to the gross undercount.

MY NOTE: There is a marked tendency by governments everywhere to attempt to bury the truth, even in the face of a deadly disease. Most governments will justify the actions to cover-up as an attempt to reduce or eliminate panic, but in most cases it's simply done to avoid taking responsibility.

[Warpy]

1. Somebody better get busy

and seal those borders FAST.

It seems this variety of Marburg has a long prodromal stage, meaning the stage when people are not yet deathly sick but are infective. This one will be devastating if it's allowed to get out.

Where the hell is the WHO? The Angolese government? The rest of the world? The fucking AIRLINES?????

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. Here's the latest advisory from the WHO....

Marburg haemorrhagic fever in Angola - update 13
April 15, 2005
<http://www.who.int/csr/don/2005_04_15/en/>

QUOTE:

Data on cases of Marburg haemorrhagic fever in Angola are being reclassified and no nation-wide data can be reported today.

Detailed data are available for Uige, the most severely affected province, where surveillance has been steadily improving. As of 14 April, 224 cases have been reported. Of these cases, 207 were fatal. Most cases have occurred in Uige municipality, which has reported 175 cases and 163 deaths. Much smaller numbers of cases have been reported from a further 7 municipalities in this province.

Improvement of public understanding of the disease and acceptance of control measures has become one of the most urgent priorities. Today, meetings were held in the WHO office in Uige with traditional community leaders, known as Sobas, for all of Uige municipality. The governor of the province and the director of its health services have released the Sobas from their present duties for seven days so that they can accompany mobile surveillance and medical teams as they search for cases and collect bodies.

MY NOTE: The rest of the update is being tap-danced to the same tune..."the situation is not under control".