PandemicPreparedness

International SOS is monitoring the situation closely. 

2 October: There is no additional information yet available. 

Updated 21 September: The World Health Organization (WHO) have published a Disease Outbreak News which calls out the Tanzanian Government over the lack of information and testing of four cases which may have been suspected Ebola cases this month. The WHO detail their attempts to gain further clarification on information they have received unofficially. As they state, "the clinical details and the results of the investigation, including laboratory tests performed for differential diagnosis of these patients, have not been shared with WHO." A full risk assessment of the situation is unable to be performed due to the lack of information.

WHO had been unofficially informed about several suspected cases of Ebola. No patient samples have been sent to WHO Collaborating Centres for Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) laboratories for confirmatory testing. The first notification occurred on 10 September in Dar es Salaam, a fatal case, with contacts in quarantine in several areas of Tanzania, the second suspected case in Mwanza on 11 September, and the third suspected case in Dar es Salaam on 12 September. One unofficial report stated that preliminary testing for one of the suspected cases was positive for Ebola, while at least one case tested negative for Ebola. On 19 September, WHO was unofficially informed that a contact of the initial case in Dar es Salaam has fallen ill. WHO has made repeated requests for confirmatory testing by WHO VHF laboratories, and for further details of these cases. Yet Tanzanian authorities have only officially reported to WHO that there are no cases of Ebola confirmed in the country and that two suspected cases returned negative tests performed at a Tanzanian national laboratory.

WHO concludes: "The limited available official information from Tanzanian authorities represents a challenge for assessing the risk posed by this event." "The insufficient information received by WHO does not allow for a formulation of a hypotheses regarding the possible cause of the illness. At this stage, WHO is not aware of signs of a widespread transmission of any illness related to these cases, however investigations, including with the support of WHO Collaborating Centres, should continue to reach a diagnosis and further inform the risk assessment."

Updated 14 September: According to unverified reports, health authorities have confirmed that the cases being investigated in Dar es Salaam did not have Ebola.

Posted 14 September: The World Health Organization (WHO) has deployed a team to help investigate rumours of a person who died from an unknown illness in Tanzania. Media reports indicate the deceased was a woman who died in Dar es Salaam on 8 September. WHO routinely receives and investigates such reports of possible public health events. No cases of Ebola have ever been reported in Tanzania, and this area is not geographically close to the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The patient had not travelled internationally recently and is not known to have had close contact with anyone from the DRC.