Angola's Marburg death toll reaches 329

Marburg
Viral Hemorrhagic Fever

Aug 26, 2005 (CIDRAP News) - Marburg hemorrhagic fever in Angola has afflicted 374 people and killed 329 of them, an increase of six cases and six deaths since late July, the World Health Organization (WHO) said this week.

The WHO had reported 368 cases with 323 deaths as of Jul 29. The latest figures, provided by Angola's Ministry of Health, represent a case-fatality rate of 88% in the epidemic, which began in October 2004 but first gained international attention in March.

All but six cases and deaths were reported in Uige province, the WHO said. The last death in a confirmed case occurred Jul 21. Authorities were still monitoring 52 people who had contact with case-patients and were still sending clinical samples to Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory for testing.

Back in early June, the WHO had reported 423 cases with 335 deaths in the epidemic. But the figures were revised downward after a review of the data in mid-July.

See also:

Aug 24 WHO update
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2005_08_24/en/index.html

Previous WHO updates on outbreak
http://www.who.int/csr/don/archive/country/ago/en/

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