28 May 2013 (12:52 UTC-07 Tango)/18 Rajab 1434/07 Khordad 1391/19 Ding-Si (4th month) 4711

In Benin, on the continent of Africa, local TV reports say more than 100 people, mostly children, have died from a strange and violent disease in the past four weeks.

To make things worse, the only health official in the area of Dekin is a mid-wife who runs the area’s only health center.  Reports say the victims are vomiting blood and making a strange “snoring” like sound.

According to French news media reports, the symptoms are “Fever, vomiting, and simultaneous bleeding from the nostrils, followed by strange breathing sounds, and finally the victims’ heart stops.”

French reports also say the disease kills children within 24 hours of infection.  Apparently the adults have more resistance, and those adults infected are reported to be “languishing” in the local health clinic.  There are no certified nurses or doctors at the clinic.

Many of those infected do not have access to clean drinking water and have been drinking water from the same watering holes used by wild animals.

A commenter on ProMED believes this is a new hemorrhagic fever, similar to the Marburg or Ebola viruses.

Benin is a country sandwiched between Togo and Nigeria.

(here’s something scary; last year Canadian researchers concluded that Ebola could become airborne)