Ebola Spread

On Aug 25, 1999 ZetaTalk stated in the Safe Locations documentation that Africa should consider that Ebola type viruses, those similar to the Ebola, would spread beyond today's expectations.

Plagues similar to the Ebola virus will spread, under the influence of the continuous rains and drizzle that run for decades after the shift, to all parts of Africa, stopped only by the seashore. The Ebola virus and its cousins live in swamps, passed among the creatures that live there, and these creatures will find all of Africa to their liking during this continuous wet season.

ZetaTalk

On Apr 1, 2005 an African outbreak documented this trend.

Anomolous Deadly Marburg Virus Outbreak Spreading
From Patricia Doyle, PhD
National Public Radio - All Things Considered, April 1, 2005

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Marburg Virus has sickened 140 people in Angola and killed 132, most of them young children. International health organizations are rushing personnel and equipment to the war-ravaged country to stem the epidemic. Still, WHO experts told National Public Radio (NPR)'s Richard Knox that they expect the Marburg toll to get much larger.

Marburg hemorrhagic fever isn't as much feared as its cousin Ebola hemorrhagic fever. But in fact, they're hard to tell apart. [Clinically they are associated with similar disease symptoms, but the 2 viruses do not cross-react antigenically and are easily distinguishable by serology and RT-PCR assay. - Mod.CP]. In both cases, victims bleed to death, often from every orifice and every organ. Few infections are as deadly. That's why the WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Canada and the medical aid group MSF (Medecins sans Frontieres) are rushing to Angola.

Dr. Mike Ryan is managing WHO's response from Geneva. He said that: "The cases counted so far don't include victims who died outside hospitals. Some WHO experts expect a doubling of the current toll. That would make this Angolan outbreak the largest Marburg epidemic ever...and larger than almost any Ebola [hemorrhagic fever] outbreak. International workers and protective gear are just arriving." So Ryan said also that it will take time to show results. "We're going to see further waves. Even with the best of interventions, you're going to see at least 2 waves of transmission before you start to gain control of the problem."

So far most Marburg cases have been in a northern province called Uige. But there are reports of cases across Angola's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dr. Pierre Formenty, the WHO's top Marburg expert, is struck by how widely the virus has already spread. Dr. Formenty stated that: "It is the 1st time we have geographically speaking so large an outbreak of Marburg fever. We have cases not just in Uige city itself but in different cities around Uige, up to 20 to 40 kilometres away. The outbreak probably started last October [2004]. Many people got infected in hospitals." Dr. Formenty thinks sloppy injection practices explain why most victims are below age 5. Doctors often give medicine to young children by injection rather than by mouth.

The biggest fear is that Marburg will begin spreading from person to person in Angolan cities. There have been cases in the provincial capital of Uige, a city of 200 000. And 3 people have died in Luanda, a coastal city of more than three million that is Angola's capital. Luanda has several other possible cases. But Dr. Formenty said the known and suspected victims came from Uige -- and didn't contract Marburg fever in Luanda. Formenty stated that: "Today we have no evidence of transmission within Luanda. We have evidence of people who have escaped Uige to die in Luanda, yes. ...but we have no secondary transmission in Luanda or in any other city. Finding and isolating Marburg cases in a big city is hard enough. Tracing people they might have infected is daunting. That's why Angolan and WHO officials are trying to dampen panic, which could cause people to flee from Uige to the capital...and bring the virus with them."