The deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever has broken out in the central Ugandan district of Luwero about one month after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the East African country free of the disease. Joaquim Saweka, the WHO country representative told Xinhua by telephone on Wednesday that the outbreak was confirmed on Tuesday following laboratory tests that turned out positive for the disease. “Yes that is true, we have dispatched one team to make preliminary assessment and also set up an isolation unit,” he said. The epicenter of the outbreak is in Sombwe Parish, Nyimbwa Sub County, Luwero district which is located about 40km north of the capital Kampala. Joseph Okware, the Luwero District Health Officer was quoted by Daily Monitor on Wednesday as saying that two people belonging to the same family had died of the disease over the weekend. The outbreak comes at a time when the country is still experiencing the deadly Marburg fever in several parts of western Uganda. In July this year the Ebola outbreak in the Midwestern Ugandan district of Kibaale left at least 20 people dead. Ebola victims present with symptoms like fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, measles-like rash, red eyes, and sometimes with bleeding from body openings.
- RSOE EDIS
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