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Woman dies from Ebola in South Africa
Two others infected
November 25, 1996
Web posted at: 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT)JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- The first person to contract the deadly Ebola virus in South Africa has died and another two cases have been identified.
Health officials at the Morningside Clinic in Johannesburg said nurse Marilyn Lahana, 46, died from the virus Sunday evening.
Lahana apparently caught the illness from a Gabonese doctor she was treating but who was not known to be carrying the virus. The doctor, who became ill while in Gabon, has since recovered.
Health officials say they have identified two other people in South Africa with the virus.
These are the first known cases of Ebola in South Africa and the first cases in the world occurring within a major metropolitan population.
The highly contagious disease, with its devastating, organ-disintegrating effects, gained international notoriety in 1995, killing 245 people in Zaire. Ebola outbreaks in February and October killed at least 30 people in Gabon.
Some 350 health care workers who had contact with either Lahana or the Gabonese doctor are being closely monitored. It was not immediately clear if the two new cases were among those being monitored.
Because of the way Ebola spreads, Dr. Neil Cameron, a South African health official, said the general public is not at risk. Those at greatest risk are health care workers and others caring for those with the virus, which is spread through contact with bodily fluids.
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However, Cameron said, health officials are being "overly careful" with the situation and closely examining anyone who is suffering from headache, fever or other symptoms which may be early signs of the virus.
Correspondent David Clinch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related story:
- Mandela urges calm after two Ebola cases - November 18, 1996
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