Dr Zania Stamataki, Associate Professor in Viral Immunology, University of Birmingham, said the UK should “remain vigilant” as viral infections can remain dormant for days before people start showing symptoms, meaning people could travel and mix with others while they weren’t feeling to sick, spurring transmission.
Dr Stamataki said the symptoms so far appeared to be different to the “alarming infection” caused by severe malaria in the DRC late last year, but much remained unclear.
Doctors on the ground said the symptoms include fever, vomiting and internal bleeding, in hemorrhagic fever-like symptoms commonly linked to deadly viruses including Ebola, dengue, Marburg and yellow fever.
Dr Amanda Rojek, Senior Clinical Fellow, Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford, said this could be a situation where several common diseases are contributing to cases, and it was reassuring the tests for the deadly Ebola and Marbug viruses had been negative so far.
The outbreak began in the town of Boloko after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours following hemorrhagic fever symptoms, the Africa office of the WHO said on Monday.
