AN international medical team in Gabon dealing with an outbreak of the Ebola virus that has killed 25 people returned on Sunday to a village at the centre of the epidemic, after being forced out by the local population, the Red Cross said. “Efforts by the authorities, and especially by volunteers of the Gabonese Red Cross… convinced the local population that the international team is needed there,” said Andrei Neacsu, a representative for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The World Health Organisation, which is overseeing the mission, said on Friday it was unable to monitor more than 200 people who had been in contact with victims of the Ebola virus after the international medical team was forced out of the northern village of Mekambo. – AFP
Sunday January 13, 2001