Africa

Confirmed Ebola Cases in Uganda Rise to Seven

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Uganda has confirmed seven Ebola cases, including one death, since the outbreak of the infection in the country's central municipality of Mubende, with seven more cases being investigated as suspected Ebola-related fatalities, Dr. Kyobe Henry Bbosa, the Ebola incident commander at the Ugandan Health Ministry, said on Thursday.
Sputnik
On Tuesday, the Ugandan authorities declared an Ebola outbreak in Mubende after the death of a 24-year-old local resident infected with the Ebola-Sudan strain.
"As of today, we have seven confirmed cases, of whom we have one confirmed death, but also we have seven probable cases that died before the confirmation of the outbreak," Bbosa told the Africa Online Briefing of the World Health Organization (WHO).
In addition, the Ugandan authorities have listed up to 11 Ebola-related contacts so far and are currently trying to trace down up to 43 contacts, the Ebola incident commander said.
"The epidemic appears to have started around the beginning of September, when people started dying in the small village in the Sub County called Madudu," Bbosa added.
The Ebola incident commander said that Uganda's government was taking all necessary measures to protect the population and health workers, though Ebola cases were still expected to increase in the country in the near future.
Africa
Uganda Declares Ebola Outbreak After One Death
Ebola is an acute viral infection that affects humans and some other species of animals. The Ebola epidemic broke out in West Africa in 2015, with Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia becoming the epicenter of the outbreak. According to the World Health Organization, during the last major epidemic 28,600 people were infected with Ebola, and more than 11,300 of them died.
Discuss