At least five people have died of Ebola in the new outbreak of the disease declared on Tuesday in Uganda, where health authorities have already confirmed at least 18 infections since Sunday, the country’s Ministry of Health reported Monday.
On its Twitter account, the department said it had also detected “18 probable cases” of Ebola and “18 probable deaths” from the disease, which were awaiting laboratory confirmation.
“Ebola spreads rapidly from person to person and can cause death in a short period of time. However, it is a preventable disease,” Ugandan Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said on her Twitter account.
Aceng advised Ugandans to wash their hands frequently with soap and clean water, avoid shaking hands and hugging, and go to the nearest health center if they develop Ebola symptoms.
According to the minister, the health authorities have launched a rigorous awareness campaign in the Mubende district (center), the focus of the outbreak, so that, for the time being, it is not necessary to restrict movements or impose confinement.
Aceng also said that health workers are working around the clock to contain the spread of the virus.
“Markets, schools and shops will remain open. You can send your children to school, but remain vigilant and cooperate with health teams on the ground,” Aceng said over the weekend.
Uganda declared an Ebola outbreak on December 20, following the confirmation of a case in Mubende district, where a 24-year-old man died from the virus that causes the disease.
Ugandan authorities confirmed the case, a rare strain from Sudan, after testing a sample taken from the man and following an investigation into six suspicious deaths that occurred in the district this month.
Unlike the Zaire strain, there is no approved vaccine for this strain, which is not only less transmissible, but has a lower mortality (40-100%) than Zaire (70-100%).
Countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Somalia are on alert to prevent the possible spread of the virus. Discovered in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – then called Zaire – Ebola is a serious, often fatal disease that affects humans and other primates and is transmitted by direct contact with the blood and body fluids of infected people or animals. .
It causes severe bleeding and its first symptoms are sudden high fever, severe weakness, muscle pain, head and throat pain, and vomiting.
The virus ravaged several West African countries between 2014 and 2016, when 11,300 people died, out of a total of more than 28,500 cases.
Source: TSF
