Tanzania not sharing information on suspected Ebola: WHO

The World Health Organization has accused Tanzania of failing to provide information on suspected cases of Ebola in the country, potentially hindering efforts to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

East African nations have been on high alert over an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has left 2,103 people dead.

Four people were diagnosed with the virus in Uganda and later died.

The WHO said it had learned on September 10 of a suspected case of the disease in Tanzania's port city of Dar es Salaam, and information emerged that this patient's contacts had been quarantined, and that the person had tested positive for Ebola.

Two other suspected cases were also unofficially reported.

"Despite several requests, WHO did not receive further details of any of these cases from Tanzanian authorities," the organisation said in a statement issued Saturday.

On September 14 Tanzanian authorities officially reported there was no Ebola in the country, but declined "secondary confirmation testing" at a WHO centre, the global body said.

Then on Thursday, the WHO was made aware that a contact of the initial patient was sick and in hospital.

"To date, 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."
"The limited available official information from Tanzanian authorities represents a challenge for assessing the risk posed by this event."