Some 121 people who came into contact with three people who died of an unknown kind of viral hemorrhagic fever remain under observation although all appear fine, South African doctors said on Tuesday.
Doctor Lucille Blumberg of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases said while the illness was currently "controlled", doctors would have to wait for 21 days before they could possibly declare it contained.
Twenty one days is the period doctors believe the illness could still move from exposure to incubation to manifestation.
A list of 121 people who came into contact with the deceased has been compiled and those people have had their temperatures taken every six hours for the three-week period.
"If we are not sure of their symptoms, we will put them in isolation to evaluate," said treating doctor Nivesh Sewlall.
On September 12, a 36-year-old woman, Cecilia van Deventer, was airlifted from Zambia to the Morningside Medi Clinic in Sandton, Johannesburg. She was treated for tick bite fever and other potential infections, but died two days later.
A Zambian paramedic who accompanied her into the country died last week, and a nurse at the clinic died on Sunday.
On Tuesday, Sewlall said of those being observed, six people had been taken to hospital but four had already been discharged.
Source: Xinhua
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