Some 121 people who came into contact with three people who died of an unknown kind of viral haemorrhagic fever remain under observation although all appear fine, doctors said on Tuesday.

Doctor Lucille Blumberg of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases said while the illness was currently "controlled", doctors would have to wait for 21 days before they could possibly declare it contained.

Anxious wait

Twenty-one days is the period doctors believe the illness could still move from exposure to incubation to manifestation.

A list of 121 people who came into contact with the deceased has been compiled and those people were having their temperatures taken every six hours for the three week period.

"If we are not sure of their symptoms we will put them in isolation to evaluate," said treating doctor Nivesh Sewlall.

On September 12, a 36-year- old woman, Cecilia van Deventer, was airlifted from Zambia to the Morningside Medi Clinic in Sandton. She was treated for tick bite fever and other potential infections, but died two days later.

A Zambian paramedic who accompanied her into the country died last week, and a nurse at the clinic died on Sunday.

Four already discharged…

On Tuesday, Sewlall said of those being observed, six people had been taken to hospital but four had already been discharged.

A 51-year-old cleaning supervisor who was admitted to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital with symptoms of the illness was also ready to be discharged on Tuesday.

Blumberg said her blood tests had come back clear and she was fine.

The 11-year-old son of a nurse that passed away, and his 23-year-old nanny, were still being kept in hospital although neither displayed any symptoms.

"He is fine, but it is a traumatic time and it's more for trauma counselling," said Sewlall.

His nanny had initially displayed a marginally high fever, but was now fine, with her blood test normal.

Doctors said while the recent death of a cleaning staff member at the Morningside Medic-Clinic was probably not related to the other deaths at the hospital, they could not disregard anything at this stage.

"Scientifically we can not exclude anything until we get to 21 days," said Sewlall.

No need to panic

Sewlall and other medical officials held a news conference at the Morningside Medi- Clinic on Tuesday, because they said they wanted to dispel misconceptions and panic around the illness.

Intensive care specialist professor Guy Richards said: "The public at large are not at risk, only those with direct exposure to the three cases".

Morningside Medi-Clinic Gauteng marketing manager Melinda Pelser said: "This hospital is at no risk, this is where there is a huge misunderstanding.

"You cannot contract the illness through air, [you cannot contract it] unless you have had direct contact with a patient mostly though blood, stool and urine. We don't want panic out there."

No travel risk to Zambia

Blumberg said there was also no outbreak of the illness in Zambia itself and there was no risk of contracting the disease through travel to Zambia.

Sewlall said the idea that it was a disease that doctors had never heard of and knew nothing about was incorrect.

Blumberg said: "We don't have a diagnosis as yet.

"It is a viral haemorrhagic fever but we don't know what caused it."

Not knowing the cause made no difference to how patients were managed, said Richards.

"Treatment is not harmed by the fact it has not been identified."

Blumberg said various tests were being done but these could take some time.

Her institute was also collaborating with the US Centres for Disease Control.

On Tuesday the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it had flown in a laboratory expert and a disease surveillance expert to help the South African health authorities determine the illness.

Blumberg said the first victim, a tourism operator, probably contracted the illness in Lusaka.

She lived on the outskirts of the city in a place where there were horses and exposure to ticks.

Sewlall said she was ill for about 10 days before coming to SA and did have a tick bite but had not identified a specific incident of when she got ill.

Sewlall said all precautions had been in place such as masks and gowns for the nurse who contracted the illness.

Sapa