Deadly Ebola breaks out in Uganda, kills one, 30 monitored

The deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever has broken out in Uganda, killing one person and leaving over 30 others being monitored by health officials, ministry of health announced here on Saturday.

The epicenter of the outbreak is in the central Ugandan district of Luwero located about 50 km north of the capital Kampala.

According to Anthony Mbonye, head of the community health department at the ministry of health, a 12 year old girl in Zirombwe Sub-county developed symptoms of Ebola and when she was admitted at a military hospital in the district, laboratory test confirmed that it was Ebola.

The Ebola virus is highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding.

The girl died on May 6 and about 30 people who she got contact with are being asked to not get into contact with the public as health officials monitor them for about 21 days.

The 30 people have not yet developed the symptoms but if they do, they will be isolated from the public.

Mbonye said that preliminary investigations have showed that this Ebola virus is similar to the one that broke out in Sudan, thus named Sudan Ebola.

The epicenter of the outbreak is also located along the high way to southern Sudan.

This viral subtype has a human case fatality rate of 60 percent meaning that it will kill 60 percent of the infected people.

The other subtype is the Congo Ebola which also attacked Uganda in 2007. This one has a human case fatality rate of over 80 percent.

The 2007 outbreak which occurred in the western district of Bundibugyo bordering eastern Democratic Republic of Congo claimed 37 lives out of the 148 infected.

Mbonye said that there also ongoing investigations to find out whether the index case got into contact with moneys or bats, the known reservoirs of the Ebola virus.

Following the outbreak, government has reactivated the National Ebola Task Force (NETF) to coordinate the fight against the disease at the national level.

District task forces are also in the process of being formed according to Mbonye, who is the chairperson of the NETF.

Immigration officials at all the country's border posts have been put on alert and the neighboring countries have been notified about the outbreak.

According to Joachim Saweka, World Health Organization (WHO) representative here, tight border controls are not yet necessary although the immigration officers should be on alert.

With some people reluctant to disclose their exact areas of origin for fear of being inconvenienced and perhaps quarantined, it remains a challenge how the immigration staff will handle the situation.

According Saweka, a team of experts from WHO are also on the way to Uganda to beef up the team which is already camped in the affected district.

A ministry of health statement issued on Saturday urged the public to stay calm as all possible measures are being undertaken to control the situation.

The ministry urged the public to avoid direct contact with body fluids of a person suffering from Ebola by using protective materials like gloves and masks.

The public is also urged to burry people who have died of Ebola immediately and avoid feasting and funerals.

Government has also stocked the necessary drug supplies and logistics for case management. Isolation facilities have also been set up in the affected district.

"Any claim of somebody bleeding should not just be disregarded but should be rushed to the nearest health centre and then from there we are already working with the health system to try to instruct how to deal with these cases," said Saweka.

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