Ebola

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July 31, 2012 | 2:57 PM | By  | 

Ugandan President calls on citizens to help quell Ebola outbreak | 

By Daniel Drake

Two more people have died and six others quarantined after an outbreak of Ebola was confirmed in western Uganda this weekend.

In a state broadcast yesterday, President Yoweri Museveni called on Ugandans to help stomp out the outbreak by avoiding physical contact and reporting symptoms quickly.

“I appeal to you to first of all report all cases which appear to be like Ebola, and these are high fever, vomiting, sometimes diarrhoea, and with bleeding,” Museveni added. “When you handle this case well you can eliminate Ebola quickly.”

Government officials confirmed the outbreak at a press conference Saturday, causing some patients to flee Kagadi Hospital where victims are being treated. At the conference, officials confirmed 20 infections and 14 deaths.

President Yoweri Museveni, speaking at the London Summit on Family Planning on July 11, 2012. Photo via DFID - UK Department for International Development on Flickr.

The virus appeared a month ago in the Kibaale district—105 miles west of the capital—but was initially misdiagnosed because it didn’t trigger the usual symptoms.

Officials are now trying to contain the outbreak and keep it away from the nation’s capital Kampala. One death has already been confirmed within the city—a health worker who is believed to have traveled there independently from the Kibaale district after her three-month old child died.

“So far no infections have occurred,” a WHO spokesperson told the Associated Press.

There is no treatment or vaccine against Ebola, which is transmitted between both humans and non-human primates through close physical contact. The virus causes hemorrhagic fever, which kills the majority of its victims. Health care workers have frequently been infected while treating Ebola patients. (Reuters)

Officials are containing the outbreak by isolating anyone suspected of infection and asking them who they were in contact with recently—a technique known as “contact tracking.” (NPR)

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FILED UNDER: Health, Ebola, fever, global health, kampala, kibaale, Museveni, Uganda, virus
July 30, 2012 | 10:45 AM | By  | 

The Hot Zone virus, Ebola, reappears in Uganda | 

Ebola, the highly deadly virus made infamous by the film and book The Hot Zone has re-emerged in western Uganda.

Here’s a clip from Kenya’s NTV news (or, if you prefer, you can watch two guys at CNN talk about it):

Though horrible in terms of its effects on most of those infected, the outbreak reportedly has so far killed only 14. Ebola outbreaks often burn out fairly quickly because the virus kills its victims so quickly, reducing the spread of the virus. The AIDS virus, for example, spreads much better because it takes so long to sicken its host.

This time, however, people are a bit more worried given that someone with Ebola, apparently infected in the west, turned up in the nation’s capital city of Kampala. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni responded by making an urgent public plea:

“Ebola spreads by contact when you contact each other physically… avoid shaking of hands, because that can cause contact through sweat, which can cause problems,” said Yoweri Museveni. “Do not take on burying somebody who has died from symptoms that look like Ebola — instead call health workers because they know how to do it… avoid promiscuity because this sickness can also go through sex.”

FILED UNDER: Health, Ebola, Uganda