Six new cases of Ebola have been identified in Uganda, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, two days after the country announced the first death from the deadly disease in three years.
“So far, seven cases, including one death, have been confirmed to have contracted Ebola virus from Sudan,” the WHO said in a statement, referring to a rare strain of the virus.
“Forty-three contacts have been identified and 10 people suspected of having contracted the virus are receiving treatment at the Mubende regional referral hospital,” according to the UN body.
“Our experts are already working on the ground with Uganda’s experienced Ebola response teams to strengthen surveillance, diagnosis, treatment and preventive measures,” said Abdou Salam Gueye, regional emergency manager at the Regional Office for Ebola. Ebola for Africa.
A registered death in the country
So far, the only death has been recorded in the Mubende district in the center of the country, about 150 kilometers west of the capital Kampala. 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 last cases registered in the country date from 2019, with at least five deaths, after the “virus was imported from the DRC that was fighting a large epidemic in its northeastern region,” according to the WHO. In a previous outbreak in 2000, 200 people died.
vaccines and treatments
An Ebola case was also reported in August in the Congolese province of North Kivu, on the border with Rwanda and Uganda, less than six weeks after an outbreak in eastern DRC was declared complete, the 14th in the country history.
Ebola virus disease is usually fatal, but there are now vaccines and treatments for this hemorrhagic fever, which is transmitted to humans through infected animals.
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
