Science Forums 2

[mynah]

I'd like to return to the subject of killer flu later (haven't had time for detailed postings recently!), but a classical situation concerning emerging diseases has arisen uncomfortably close to where I live.

On 12 September a woman aged 36 was airlifted, accompanied by a paramedic, from Zambia to a private hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. She had fallen ill three days previously. In spite of treatment, she died two days later of symptoms suggesting viral haemorrhagic fever. However, tests for all known HFs came back negative.

On 27 September the paramedic (36) was admitted with similar symptoms. He died on 1 October. A nurse (34) who had treated the first patient sought medical treatment early in October and died in hospital 3 October. Another woman who had worked in the same ward has also died, but a link has not been confirmed.

The WHO is now investigating the outbreaK.

Since then, 121 people have been quarantined. Experts consider Crimean Congo fever the most likely culprit, although a number of findings are not consistent with such a conclusion, including:

* CCF, a tick-borne disease with a mortality of some 30 percent, is rarely transmitted from human to human, and secondary cases are rarely fatal.
* Most people who succumb to HFs only do so in the second week, whereas these patients died within five days or fewer.
Tests for CCF and all other known HFs have proven negative.
* The 100 percent mortality rate so far - in spite of good quality hospital care - is another obvious cause for concern.