Uganda
Ebola breaks out in Uganda 

afrol.com, 15 October - There has been reported a greater outbreak of Ebola in the Northern Uganda district of Gulu. At least 33 people have died and a total of 62 people are known to have contracted the disease. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed the finding of the virus in several blood specimens they have analyzed.

The Ugandan Health Minister, Crispus Kiyonga, has also confirmed that the deaths of up to 40 persons are caused by the feared 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 confirmed reports of 62 contracted persons, all in the Gulu region, but doctors fear that many in remote villages may have died before they could get medical help, according to BBC. "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. 

Ugandan health authorities are operating by an emergency plan to isolate and fight the outbreak of the disease. Two experts from the WHO have already arrived in the area. The organisation informs that another team of WHO doctors and nurses will leave for the country on Monday morning. 

This is the first ever report of an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda. Most outbreaks so far have been in Southern Sudan and Eastern Congo Kinshasa (DRC). However, the Gulu region is located relatively close to the two, former core areas of the disease. There have also been speculations that Ugandan soldiers fighting in the DRC war might have brought the disease with them to Uganda, although there are no reports of soldiers contracted.

The Ebola virus was first identified in a western equatorial province of Sudan and in a nearby region of the DRC in 1976 after significant epidemics in Yamkubu (Northern DRC) and Nzara (Southern Sudan). Between June and November 1976 the Ebola virus infected 284 people in Sudan, with 117 deaths. In the DRC there were 318 cases and 280 deaths in September and October. A large epidemic later occurred in Kikwit in the DRC in 1995 with 315 cases, 244 with fatal outcomes. 

Ebola is often characterised by the sudden onset of fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, limited kidney and liver functions, and both internal and external bleeding. Eventually, this can cause enough blood loss to cause shock and respiratory problems, leading quickly in many cases to death. So far, there is no cure or vaccine against the disease.

Source: Based on WHO and press clippings

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