No need for panic over killer illness: S. Africa

By Michael Georgy

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African health officials said on Monday they were closely monitoring an unknown disease similar to hemorrhagic fever that has killed three people, but called on the public not to panic.

Melinda Pelser, spokeswoman at Johannesburg's Morningside Clinic, which treated the three patients, said the disease causes external and internal bleeding and was spread through bodily fluids. But there were no signs it was airborne.

Tests were being carried out on the body of a Morningside hospital cleaner, to see if the death was linked to the disease.

South Africa's Health Department, which issued an alert over the weekend, said: "Blood samples of three of the cases are negative for any particular disease, including Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers."

"At this stage the Department cannot confirm speculations linking these deaths to Ebola or any of the other viral hemorrhagic fevers," it said in a statement.

"The Department of Health would like to call on South Africans not to panic," it said.

Dr Frew Benson, the department's director of communicable diseases, told Talk Radio 702: "Our one concern is that we don't know what we're dealing with...the fact that we don't know what the disease is, is a matter of concern for us."

There are several strains of hemorrhagic fever, including Ebola and Marburg, which have killed hundreds of people in outbreaks in Africa. The diseases cause bleeding from multiple sites and can have very high death rates.