Very Disconcerting News: Over 20 Unexplained Deaths, Near Guinea / Cameroon Border of Kie-Ntem Province. New Ebola Outbreak?

Though this news item, out of London is a few days old, it seems a certainty that people must have been sick for a few weeks, in Kie-Ntem Province, Guinea. None are confirmed Ebola cases (at least not by WHO standards of reporting), but at least 20 highly suspicious deaths have been recorded, among otherwise younger, healthy people. To be sure, it could be a Marburgs outbreak. . . but the outcome is much the same, either way. Both are often lethal, spread rapidly. . . and while there are vaccines for both. . . once infected. . . the prognosis is challenging -- as no really effective therapeutics can be deployed rapidly, at least not at a price point that makes it possible in near real time, inside Equatorial Guinea.

So we are left to just cross our fingers, and hope. Hope that the Merck vaccine is already on the ground there, and boing given to all contacts of contacts. . . both in Kie-Ntem, and across the way. . . in Cameroon. Here's a bit:

. . .Cameroon has restricted movement along its border with Equatorial Guinea following “several unexplained deaths” from hemorrhagic fever, the government said on Friday.

Cameroon said around 20 deaths had been recorded in a short space of time in Equatorial Guinea's Kie-Ntem province, which borders Cameroon's Olamze district.

The news will raise concerns of another Ebola outbreak, the last of which left 55 people dead in Uganda in 2022. The World Health Organization told the Telegraph on Friday that it doesn’t yet know if the cases are Ebola, but it is “not taking any chances”. It added that it will have test results back by Saturday [yesterday, US time]. . . .

As ever with viral agents. . . it is three steps forward. . . then one or two, perhaps. . . back. Onward, resolutely just the same. Be excellent to one another.

नमस्ते