Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
17 December 1996
EBOLA FEVER: GAUTENG EPISODE OVER
The monitoring of Ebola Fever "contacts" came to an end this weekend, without anybody other than Mrs Marilyn Lahana contracting the infection locally.
From November 16, about 380 people - almost all health workers - were monitored on a daily basis until they emerged from the 21-day incubation period. Because contacts were exposed to the risk of infection at different stages, the monitoring was staggered over slightly more than four weeks.
The exercise was coordinated by the national and Gauteng Departments of Health and involved a wide range of health workers in private and public hospitals, laboratories and research bodies, South African Medical Services and local authorities.
Ebola Fever was imported into South Africa i late October when Dr Clement Mambana from Gabon was treated in a private Johannesburg clinic without the illness being diagnosed. Mrs Lahana, a nursing sister, became infected in the course of nursing him. Exactly how this happened remains uncertain, since infection control precautions were being taken despite the fact that Dr Mambana's illness had not yet been diagnosed.
While Dr Mambana survived Ebola Fever, Mrs Lahana died from complications on November 24.
The fact that there was no further infection among those who cared for Dr Mambana or Mrs Lahana is extremely encouraging, says Dr Liz Floyd, Gauteng Director for AIDS and Communicable Diseases.
"In Gauteng we have gained a great deal over the past month in terms of confidence and experience in handling Ebola Fever. Above all, we have learned that Ebola Fever can be effectively contained simply by the rigorous application of standard infection control procedures."
She describes the outcome as "very satisfactory and a lot better than we had expected at the outset from our limited and mostly indirect knowledge of Ebola Fever".
The fact that the Gauteng episode started with an undetected, imported case should not be overlooked.
"With international travel on the increase, it is inevitable that we will have people entering the country with infections. Our only effective defence against this, is to be more vigilant and to apply infection control measures absolutely systematically in all appropriate circumstances.
"The presence of Ebola Fever in Johannesburg has really served as a wake-up call on infection control to the health sector as a whole - from hospitals and laboratories to international air ambulance services."
Dr Floyd adds that the experience of containing Ebola Fever has been provided valuable insights into the development of emergency systems for the control of future outbreaks of infectious diseases. the approach to the Ebola outbreak has been assessed and is being documented for future use.
Released by the Directorate for Health Promotion and Communications Inquiries: Jo-Anne Collinge (Tel: 082 574 5510)