Marburg Outbreak Continues

There is a big Marburg outbreak going on in Angola (Marburg virus is related to Ebola virus), but locals are apparently scared of the WHO wokers that are trying to help contain it. This article describes the problem.

Fear and ignorance are fuelling the world's deadliest outbreak of Marburg fever in Angola, where locals are too suspicious of medics in "astronaut" suits to let them take away infected loved ones, aid workers said on Monday.

 

Terrified residents stoned World Health Organisation (WHO) workers' vehicles late last week, putting a brief halt to their operations to contain the disease in Uige province, northeast of Angola's capital Luanda.

 

"We no longer have people coming to the isolation ward -- people are hiding their patients at home because they're scared. That means the virus keeps on spreading in the community," Monica Castellarnau, emergency coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Uige, told Reuters by phone from Uige.

 

The outbreak has killed 194 of the 214 known cases, according to the WHO.

One the great blessings of our civilization that often goes unnoticed is the combined effect of education and our public health system.