Congolese no longer kiss as Ebola seems to spread

By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Villagers don't kiss anymore in a corner of Democratic Republic of Congo hit by the deadly and highly contagious Ebola virus.

People began falling ill in April in Kampungu, Western Kasai province, centre of an outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever that has no cure or treatment and kills 50-90 percent of its victims.

There have been 385 suspected cases of the disease, and 174 have died, though only a handful of cases have been confirmed.

"People no longer kiss each other when they meet. They don't even shake hands," Antoine Bushambu told Reuters by phone from the town of Mweka, around 60 km (37.5 miles) from Kampungu.

"Those are the instructions the doctors have given to the population. There's been a big change in behavior," said Bushambu, who works for a Congolese human rights organization.

In the past week, several suspect cases have been reported in Kananga, the capital of Western Kasai. The provincial health minister of neighboring Eastern Kasai said on Thursday four more cases had been discovered there, raising fears the outbreak may be spreading beyond its rural confines.

But health officials suspect many deaths may be due to other illnesses like typhoid or Shigella, a bacterial infection.

"So far we have only nine confirmed cases of Ebola, but we don't really know about the rest. We want to have the correct origins of those illnesses," said Christiana Salvi, a spokeswoman for the U.N. World Health organization (WHO).

PUBLIC EDUCATION

Without reliable information -- something the WHO hopes will change with the arrival of a high-tech mobile laboratory this weekend -- health workers are struggling to staunch panic.

"There's been no public education or health education. The concept of disease in these places is so far away from the clinical one," Josep Prior, head of Doctors without Borders (MSF) mission in Congo, told Reuters.

"This is the difference between families hiding patients and people coming in for treatment ... It's extremely important."

Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with blood, body fluids and tissues of infected people. Towards the latter stages, victims become highly contagious and the disease can even be transferred through contact with bodies of the dead.

When a major Ebola outbreak hit the town of Kikwit in neighboring Bandundu province in 1995, killing 250 people, many people are believed to have caught it during the traditional funeral rite of washing corpses, which led to entire families being wiped out despite awareness campaigns.

Health officials hope this time things will be different.

Congo's health ministry has begun circulating leaflets and posters in several languages, and airing radio and television adverts. Actors are even touring remote villages staging plays that warn of the dangers of Ebola.

"At least it show that people know what's going on and aware of the risks," Salvi said.

A quarantine zone is in place and officials say the disease is largely contained in Kampungu and nearby Luebo village.

But Bushambu said people miles away in Mweka are not taking any chances and age-old village traditions are changing.

"There are even those who bring their own cups to places where they drink palm wine. Before they used to share," he said.