Nine people have died of Ebola in Uganda for two weeks and the announcement by the authorities of the presence of an “epidemic” in the center of the country, the Ministry of Health reported Monday.
Ebola virus disease is often deadly, but there are now vaccines and treatments against this hemorrhagic fever, which is transmitted to humans by infected animals. The previous report from Ugandan authorities, published on Friday, reported 7 deaths.
Containment not yet considered
According to a tweet from the Ministry of Health, two new cases have been identified, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the epidemic to 43 and the death toll to nine. Some 882 contact cases have been listed.
Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, Uganda’s health minister, announced the first death of a doctor from Ebola on Saturday.
President Yoweri Museveni last week ruled out any lockdown, saying the country had the capacity to contain the outbreak. Uganda has previously experienced outbreaks of Ebola, a disease that has claimed thousands of lives in Africa since its discovery in 1976 in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The health authorities of this African country in the Great Lakes region announced on September 23 the death of a 24-year-old man from Ebola in the central Mubende region, a novelty since 2019.
The deceased’s case came from a “relatively rare” Sudanese strain, which had not been reported in Uganda since 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced.
Transmission through body fluids.
Human transmission is through body fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding, and diarrhea. Infected people only become contagious after the onset of symptoms, after an incubation period ranging from 2 to 21 days.
The disease has six different strains, three of which (Bundibugyo, Sudan, Zaire) have already caused major epidemics.
Source: BFM TV
