The president of Uganda is calling on people in the East African country
to avoid physical contact, including handshaking and kissing, to
prevent the spread of the deadly and highly contagious Ebola virus that
is believed to have killed 14 people in the last few weeks.
The disease has no known cure or vaccine and some strains can kill up to
90 percent of victims within days. Ugandans are so fearful of the
disease that residents in Kibaale province where the outbreak was
reported said that people immediately fled the hospital after hearing
patients with Ebola were there.
In a nationally televised speech today, President Yoweri Museveni said
health officials are working to contain the disease to the rural
district where the outbreak was confirmed Saturday, but at least one of
the suspected victims was taken to a hospital in the capital city of
Kampala. Now, nearly two dozen medical workers at Mulago Hospital are
being held in isolation.
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"We have asked people in the whole country to be careful and aware of
those who present with symptoms. We have informed health facilities of
the right way to respond," said Dr. Anthony Mbonye at Uganda's Ministry
of Health.
Mbonye said no other patients at Mulago Hospital in Kampala are at risk,
and he is optimistic the outbreak in the Kibaale district 125 miles
west of the capital city can be contained soon.
"I have hope because since Friday we have not had any new suspected cases of Ebola," he said.
However, another health official from the affected district told the
Associated Press up to six more patients suspected to have Ebola have
been admitted to a hospital there and said people in other villages are
reporting possible Ebola infections.
Mbonye said people are frightened because many illnesses that are common
in the region, such as malaria, have the same symptoms as Ebola. He
said health officials have to balance the need to inform the public
while not wanting to cause unnecessary panic. In Kibaale, schools are
closed and social gatherings have been cancelled.
Experts from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention are in Uganda to advise health officials
responding to the outbreak.
People infected with Ebola usually have flu-like symptoms at first. They
can then begin bleeding internally and externally as their vital organs
shut down.
Ebola was named for the river near where it was first reported in the
Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. Scientists believe an Ebola
outbreak usually begins when a human contracts the disease from an
infected animal.
The CDC operates a laboratory in Uganda where a team of scientists is
studying Ebola and other deadly viruses in Africa. In the past couple of
years, U.S. defense officials expressed concern that terrorists could
try to use Ebola as a biological weapon. The threat posed by Ebola and
other little understood viral diseases has been dramatized by
best-selling books such as "The Hot Point" and Hollywood movies like
"Outbreak" and "Contagion."
This is the third outbreak of Ebola in Uganda since 2000 when 224 people
were killed. At least 42 people were killed in another outbreak in
2007, and there was a single confirmed case in 2011.
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