New Ebola fatalities push Uganda toll to 25
Dec 8
KAMPALA (AFP) - A dreaded Ebola outbreak has killed two people, bringing the toll to 25 in western Uganda, an official said Saturday, as health teams battled to contain the virulent strain in the region.
Health authorities continued to monitor hundreds of quarantined people who had contacts with the Ebola victims in Bundibugyo district, home to 250,000 people and the outbreak's epicentre.
"Two people died last night in Bundibugyo, bringing the death toll to 25," said Sam Okware, a health ministry official heading the battle against the disease.
The mysterious strain has so far infected 104 people -- including the 25 dead -- some of them medical workers who treated patients without latex gloves and respirator gowns.
Experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were studying new blood and tissue samples from western Kanungu and Kasese districts and northwestern Adjuman district for possible Ebola infections.
The health ministry said the previously unknown Ebola virus hit the region in September, simmered unnoticed while obscured by chaos and spurred other infections with similar symptoms, until it was identified in late November.
Unlike other Ebola strains, which kill after signature non-stop haemorrhage, the new strain takes life after provoking mainly high fever, diarrhoea and vomiting.
Although containing the strain is the priority, epidemiologists are also scouring the area to search for the source of the virus, seven years after it killed at least 170 people in northern Uganda, in a bid to stall future outbreaks.
Spread by body secretions, the blood-borne disease, Ebola was named after a small DRC river where it was discovered in 1976. It re-emerged in Sudan later the same year. Other outbreaks have been recorded in Ivory Coast, Gabon and Uganda.
In the previous outbreaks, the disease struck with initial ferocity causing massive fatalities, then faded away months later without leaving a hint where it came from. Experts are still seeking its footprints, if any.
Because of its scanty history, scientists have concluded that the strain is somewhat containable because it kills its victims faster than it can spread to new hosts.
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