Sunday, March 20, 2005

Ebola-like illness affecting children of Angola

This past Friday, the United Nations health agency reported that an Ebola-like ailment has targeted primarily children under the age of five and has killed 39 people in Angola. Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, believes the illness is an acute hemorrhagic fever related to the Ebola virus. As of yet, even though Ebola tends to normally affect the adult population they have not ruled it out. The World Health Organization are collecting information and waiting for lab tests to come back, hoping that the disease is a known substance. According to this article, 100,000 Angolans are expected to return this month via Uige from Congo, where Ebola still exists in nature. When the results come back and if they indicate that this disease is Ebola what affects do you think it will have on surrounding areas? Should the United States send scientists over to eradicate the problem?

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