DATE=10/25/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=WHO / EBOLA (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-268418

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The World Health Organization, W-H-O, says it is optimistic that the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Uganda will be contained within the next three months. As Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports, W-H-O says the number of cases of Ebola has climbed to 176, including 64 deaths.

TEXT: The World Health Organization says the disease still has not peaked, but is under control. The W-H-O says there is no evidence that cases of Ebola have spread outside of Gulu, the district in northern Uganda that has been struck by the epidemic.

Guenael Rodier, who heads W-H-O's Department of Communicable Disease, has just returned from Gulu, where he helped set up field operations. He says the Ebola virus has been known to kill up to 90 percent of its victims. But, in Gulu, he says, the disease is taking a much lighter toll.

/// RODIER ACT ///

Today, I would say roughly there are about 50 hospitalized patients divided across the two hospitals. If you look at the so-called case fatality rates, the people who die from this disease, it is pretty low for what we are used to in terms of Ebola outbreaks, because if you take 64 out of 176, this is about 36 percent. So, roughly two-thirds of the cases survive.

/// END ACT ///

W-H-O believes the strain of Ebola found in Uganda is related to one found in Sudan in 1976. It is considered far less virulent than the strain that killed nearly 300 people in Kikwit, Zaire, in 1995.

The Ebola virus is highly contagious. It is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions and other bodily fluids of an infected person. There are no drug treatments. However, Dr. Rodier says, secondary causes resulting from Ebola, such as organ failure, can be treated. He says the care being offered patients in Gulu is very good, and this is contributing to the survival rate.

/// RODIER ACT TWO ///

Gulu is pretty well equipped. There is no panic at all. I would say it is life as usual in Gulu. The hospital has not closed. I am very confident this outbreak is going to be contained.

/// END ACT ///

The incubation period for Ebola is between two and 21 days. Dr. Rodier says after the last case of Ebola has been uncovered, surveillance for the disease will have to continue for another 42 days. That is equivalent to two incubation periods. If no case of Ebola is found during that time, the epidemic will be declared at an end. (Signed)

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