# 8996
On Thursday I blogged about an outbreak in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) of a `hemorrhagic’ illness that had reportedly infected more than 500 people, and by some accounts, had killed scores of people.
At that time, the best information available was that it was `something other than Ebola’ (see WHO: DRC Outbreak `Definitely Not Ebola’), with `hemorrhagic gastroenteritis’ being offered as a likely diagnosis.
As sometimes happens, particularly when dealing with early reports from remote areas with less-that-optimal surveillance, initial reports don’t always end up being 100% correct.
Today the DRC is reporting that at least two cases have tested positive for Ebola. There remains a certain amount of ambiguity here; confirmatory testing will be needed before we know for certain. And if these cases are indeed positive, they should also be able to determine what strain (there are 4 known strains in Africa).
This from BBC NEWS.
Ebola outbreak: DR Congo confirms two deaths
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo say two people have died from Ebola in the country's north-west.
Right now, we have no way of knowing whether these cases, and the outbreak in West Africa are in any way related. It is certainly possible that a separate outbreak has emerged in the DRC.
As the following tweets from @WHO & WHO Spokesperson @HaertlG indicate, we should know more tomorrow.
