Ebola Outbreak Confirmed

[Matt]

The Associated Press reported today:


WHO Confirms Ebola Outbreak in Sudan

GENEVA (AP) -- The World Health Organization confirmed Tuesday that
five people have died of Ebola in southern Sudan, but dismissed fears
that a new variant strain of the disease had emerged.

In addition to the dead, 14 other people are infected with the
hemorrhagic fever, WHO said. The U.N. agency said a known form of the
virus was responsible for the outbreak.

On Saturday, WHO said it believed a new, milder strain of Ebola could
have caused the outbreak. This was wrong, said Dick Thompson,
spokesman for the U.N. health agency.

"The reason was that initial lab tests were very confusing," Thompson
said.

The Ebola virus is spread by contact with body fluids, including sweat
and saliva. Outbreaks of the disease are rare, and no one knows where
the virus lives when it is not infecting humans. The disease usually
kills its victims so fast that it also destroys the host for the
virus.

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