BRAZIL

A mysterious disease with symptoms similar to haemorrhagic fever has swept the city of Nova Olina Do Norte in Brazil's Amazon region. It has spread panic among the local people, who are afraid that it could lead to a similar epidemic as that caused by the Ebola filovirus which devastated Zaire in Africa.

According to doctors, the infected persons suffer from high fever, vomiting, red spots all over their bodies and a progressive descent in blood pressure. The health ministry of the state of Amazonas has sent a team of epidemiologists to the town to establish a blockade and halt the spread of the disease.