Mar 22 2005
More than 90 people have died in Angola from what experts believe to be acute hemorrhagic fever syndrome.
The outbreak is in the northern Angola province of Uige where the first cases were reported last October. Uige's governor, Antonio Bento Kangulo, says the death toll from the hemorrhagic fever outbreak rose to 92 at the weekend; local health authorities are employing emergency measures to contain the possible epidemic.
The outbreak has worsened in the past three weeks and the World Health Organization is now involved in efforts to identify the disease. Samples from victims have been sent to the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal and the Atlanta Centre for Disease Control in the United States.
The WHO and the Atlanta disease centre have also sent experts to Uige to collect more specimens and information.
Health officials are unsure of the exact nature of the ailment but are speculating that the disease could be related to the Ebola virus.
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