Thread by @HelenBranswell

1. A short thread about the newly announced case of #Ebola in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).
The diagnosis was confirmed by the Institut Pasteur in Cote d'Ivoire. This does not have the feel of a suspect case — the announcement sounds like @WHOAFRO is confident this is Ebola.

2. A critical point made by @MoetiTshidi, regional director of @WHOAFRO, is that this is the first time since 2014 that an #Ebola cases has been diagnosed in a major city. (I need to refresh my memory about the North Kivu outbreak.) Abidjan population: +4M.
Urban Ebola = not good

3. The @WHOAFRO statement says there's no indication this case, a man who traveled from Guinea, was linked to the Guinean #Ebola outbreak from earlier this year. Work is underway to determine the source of infection.

4. The @WHOAFRO press release says the species of #Ebola has not yet been determined. I was told by a source I trust that it is Ebola Zaire. And vaccine doses are being shipped from Guinea to Cote d'Ivoire. The Merck vaccine would not be expected to work if this isn't Zaire.

5. The only other time Cote d'Ivoire has reported a case of #Ebola was in 1994. That person was infected with the rarely seen Taï Forest strain of Ebola. But this case originated in Guinea, which is suggestive of Zaire ebolavirus.

6. I'll slip in a #Marburg update and then end this for now. No additional Marburg cases have been reported among the contacts of the man in Guinea who died on Aug. 2.