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afrol.com, 17 October - The number of known victims to Ebola in the Gulu Province in Northern Uganda has risen 71 suspected cases, including 35 deaths. Three nurses treating the diseased are included in the number. International aid is now arriving, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has taken over the coordination of the international response to the outbreak. Meanwhile, other humanitarian organisations are fleeing Gulu. - The Ugandan Government no physically has isolated parts of the Gulu area, so that the further spread of the Ebola virus can be stopped, Oddhild Günther, from an NGO operating in Gulu today informed. Health officials in northern Uganda say they will use force if necessary to impose a quarantine on the three districts at the centre of the outbreak. On Sunday, afrol.com reported about the outbreak of the feared Ebola virus in Gulu. The Ugandan Health Minister, Crispus Kiyonga, thus had confirmed that deaths in the province were caused by the Ebola virus. Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever is one of the most virulent viral disease known to humankind, causing death in 50-90% of all clinically-ill cases. This frightening and highly contagious disease causes its victims to bleed to death. There are now confirmed reports of 71 contracted persons, all in the Gulu region, but doctors fear that many in remote villages may have died before they could get medical help. "80% of the victims told us that they had lost family members due to illness with the same symptoms," Mathew Lukwiya, a doctor of the Lacor Medical Centre in Gulu told Europapress on Sunday. The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday confirmed the presence of Ebola in several blood specimens they have analyzed. "WHO and its partners will work with the Ugandan authorities to contain the disease in the outbreak zone and to reduce its spread in local communities," said Dr. Mike Ryan, a WHO epidemiologist en route to the area yesterday. According to WHO, 71 suspected cases - including 35 deaths - have been reported as of 16 October. Cases were first reported in a local hospital in Gulu town and are now occurring in the community. These are the first cases of Ebola ever reported in Uganda, the agency said. The Ebola virus, which is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or semen of infected persons, was first identified in 1976 in the western equatorial province of the Sudan and in the nearby region of Yambuku, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire). The Ugandan Ministry of Health has established a National Task Force for the Control of Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers for managing the response to the epidemic. WHO reports that it is supporting the Ministry of Health and this Task Force in disease containment by:
NGOs flee the area The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says in a press statement today that it has "evacuated its three employees in Gulu, Uganda, after the deaths of tens of people by the Ebola virus the last days." The Leader of Foreign Operations of the NRC, Oddhild Günther stated "We won't take any risks and keep the Norwegian staff of the Refugee Council in the capital, Kampala, time being". However, she guaranteed that the projects of the NRC in Gulu Province will go on "where this is possible without exposing the staff to the virus or without contributing to the further spread of the Ebola virus". As the first broadcasted pictures from Gulu yesterday showed, facilities at the local hospital are stretched to breaking point. Patients in various stages of the disease are being looked after by staff clad in one-piece paper body suits, rubber gloves and face masks. International assistance is needed urgently.
Source:
Based on WHO, UN, NRC and The Monitor
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