DATE=10/23/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-268322

TITLE=W-H-O / EBOLA (L-only)

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The World Health Organization, W-H-O, is appealing for 850-thousand dollars to help the Ugandan government contain and control a deadly Ebola outbreak (in Gulu district). Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports latest W-H-O figures put the total number of cases of Ebola at 160, including 55 deaths.

TEXT: The World Health Organization says it has taken a number of critical steps in combating the Ebola fever since it was detected several weeks ago in Gulu. It says it has done a good job of limiting its spread geographically. But W-H-O spokesman Gregory Hartl says the emergency is not over yet. He says there continues to be a substantial rise in the number of Ebola cases.

/// 1st HARTL ACT ///

We are getting [the number of] cases going up faster than deaths, which normally means we are still in the upside of the bell curve, and we have got a ways to go before this outbreak is over.

/// END ACT ///

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is one of the most virulent viral diseases known. Up to 90 percent of infected people die. It is highly contagious and transmitted by direct contact with the blood, organs or bodily fluids of infected people. The incubation period is between two and 21 days.

Mr. Hartl says it is critically important to hunt down every infected person. He says dozens of volunteers are combing the Gulu countryside looking for new cases.

/// 2nd HARTL ACT ///

Gulu is a town. But around Gulu, it is countryside, it is farmland, it is tiny villages, huts scattered out over large land areas. And what we have to do is literally go house to house, hut to hut, to see if anyone is stuck away in any of these huts, hiding for fear of the disease or they are too sick to move or because of superstition.

/// END ACT ///

The World Health Organization says it needs funds urgently to support some critical control programs, as well as for surveillance and control of the Ebola epidemic. Money from the current appeal will be used to treat patients as well as for an education campaign about the deadly risks posed by Ebola. Funds also will be set aside for communications, transportation and logistics to enhance field operations. (Signed)

NEB/LS/WTW