Ebola virus infects 51, kills 16 in Uganda
Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:24pm EST
By Tim Cocks
KAMPALA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Uganda confirmed on Thursday that the Ebola virus, a haemorrhagic fever which bleeds many of its victims to death, has infected 51 people and killed 16 in an area near the border with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"The mysterious disease outbreak in Bundibugyo has now been confirmed to be Ebola disease," Dr Sam Zaramba, the Health Ministry's director of health services, said in a statement.
Victims of the fever -- named after the Ebola river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where some of the first cases were recorded in 1976 -- started falling ill and in some cases dying in Bundibugyo district, on Uganda's western border with Congo.
"So far, a total of 51 cases have been reported ... of whom 16 have died," the statement added.
The last time Uganda was hit by an epidemic of Ebola, a disease in which the infected can bleed through their noses, ears and other orifices, 425 people caught it in 2000.
Just over half of them died.
An outbreak in neighbouring Congo this year infected up to 264 people, killing 187, the World Health Organisation says.
Dr Sam Okware, head of Uganda's national haemorrhagic fever task force, said the government had already taken action long before the diagnosis was confirmed as Ebola.
"From the beginning we've been isolating cases ... but we can't say it's contained. There may be other people in those villages unknown to us," he said.
He added that this was probably a new, milder strain of the virus. The death rate, which normally hits 50-90 percent, was unusually low.
"It's definitely a different strain. There's not much bleeding -- most died of fever," he said.
Health officials originally suspected Marburg, a close Ebola cousin which infected three people in a different part of western Uganda the month before, killing one.
But samples had tested negative.
The government said it was taking steps to prevent the epidemic spreading further.
"A response team is being strengthened to conduct contact tracing and public education ... All close contacts of the suspected cases are being closely followed up," Zaramba said.
The graphic horror of Ebola's symptoms has inspired scary movies and sparked fears it could be used as a chilling biological weapon, though scientists say a between two and 21-day incubation period means it would not be very effective.
The 1995 disaster film Outbreak, staring Dustin Hoffman, featured a fictional virus based on Ebola.
In 1992, Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese religious cult responsible for the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway, sent a team to Congo to learn more about the virus. (Editing by Charles Dick)
Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:24pm EST
By Tim Cocks
KAMPALA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Uganda confirmed on Thursday that the Ebola virus, a haemorrhagic fever which bleeds many of its victims to death, has infected 51 people and killed 16 in an area near the border with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"The mysterious disease outbreak in Bundibugyo has now been confirmed to be Ebola disease," Dr Sam Zaramba, the Health Ministry's director of health services, said in a statement.
Victims of the fever -- named after the Ebola river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where some of the first cases were recorded in 1976 -- started falling ill and in some cases dying in Bundibugyo district, on Uganda's western border with Congo.
"So far, a total of 51 cases have been reported ... of whom 16 have died," the statement added.
The last time Uganda was hit by an epidemic of Ebola, a disease in which the infected can bleed through their noses, ears and other orifices, 425 people caught it in 2000.
Just over half of them died.
An outbreak in neighbouring Congo this year infected up to 264 people, killing 187, the World Health Organisation says.
Dr Sam Okware, head of Uganda's national haemorrhagic fever task force, said the government had already taken action long before the diagnosis was confirmed as Ebola.
"From the beginning we've been isolating cases ... but we can't say it's contained. There may be other people in those villages unknown to us," he said.
He added that this was probably a new, milder strain of the virus. The death rate, which normally hits 50-90 percent, was unusually low.
"It's definitely a different strain. There's not much bleeding -- most died of fever," he said.
Health officials originally suspected Marburg, a close Ebola cousin which infected three people in a different part of western Uganda the month before, killing one.
But samples had tested negative.
The government said it was taking steps to prevent the epidemic spreading further.
"A response team is being strengthened to conduct contact tracing and public education ... All close contacts of the suspected cases are being closely followed up," Zaramba said.
The graphic horror of Ebola's symptoms has inspired scary movies and sparked fears it could be used as a chilling biological weapon, though scientists say a between two and 21-day incubation period means it would not be very effective.
The 1995 disaster film Outbreak, staring Dustin Hoffman, featured a fictional virus based on Ebola.
In 1992, Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese religious cult responsible for the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway, sent a team to Congo to learn more about the virus. (Editing by Charles Dick)
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