While stressing that there is no proof that the Ebola virus has spread from the Kasai Occidental province to a second area of the Congo, WHO officials on Friday said that officials have sent samples for testing from the Kasai Oriental province.
There have been several deaths at the health center in Mwene-Ditu over the past few days. The town is about 110 miles southeast of Kananga, which is the capital of Kasai Oriental province, where five Ebola cases and one of Shigella were confirmed on Sept. 11, the Agency France Press reports.
"There are lots of suspected cases because of the fear that has taken over Kasai Occidental and almost the whole country, but all fevers with blood are not Ebola," Dr. Benoit Kebela, secretary general of Congo's health ministry, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
This is the first major Ebola virus outbreak in several years and teams from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control have arrived to help, with the WHO issuing a call for more doctors.
Five people in the Kasai Occidental province tested positive for infection with the Ebola virus last week, officials are waiting for test results on 40 other samples. In the meantime, five people in that province tested positive for typhoid.
Angola has temporarily shut its border with the DRC to prevent spread of the disease.
An unidentified disease has claimed the lives of more than 166 people in that region during the past few weeks with another 372 people reported to be sick, the Voice of America reports.
Ebola virus causes a type of hemorrhagic fever that can cause bleeding from the eyes, ears and other parts of the body and results in death in 50 to 90 percent of people infected with the virus. There is no cure for Ebola.
Unlike Ebola, Typhoid fever and Shigella are both caused by bacteria that can be treated by antibiotics. Typhoid is spread through contaminated water or drink. Shigella is a type of infectious dysentery spread by contaminated food or water and by not washing hands after using the restroom or changing diapers. It is fatal in about 40 percent of the cases.
