All 19 persons are from the village of Mayibout, located on the Ivindo River in a sparsely populated area about 150 kilometers from Makokou, the provincial capital of Ogooue-Ivindo. The patients were admitted to the provincial hospital in Makokou on 5 and 6 February exhibiting symptoms of high fever, bloody diarrhoea and severely reddened eyes. The nine survivors have been isolated as a measure to prevent further spread of infection, and appear to be recovering. Preliminary laboratory results on blood specimens which were taken from nine of the patients support the initial diagnosis of Ebola haemorrhagic fever.
Confirmatory tests are currently underway.
In addition to the 19 cases admitted to the hospital in Makokou, four other persons are under surveillance in Mayibout for possible infection. The initial source of transmission for the outbreak is reported to have been contact by the patients with a chimpanzee on 26 January. The circumstances are being investigated by the medical team, which is seeking to identify other persons who may have had contact either with the chimpanzee or with the Ebola victims and to institute appropriate infection control measures. A single case of Ebola was confirmed in C te d'Ivoire in December. The patient survived.