Uganda Now Has 101 Ebola
Cases, 350 More Possibles
By Tim Cocks
12-7-7
KAMPALA (Reuters) -- Uganda now has 101 suspected cases of the lethal
Ebola virus and 350 more people are being closely monitored because they were
in contact with those infected, the Health Ministry said on Friday.
There were no new deaths from the virulent haemorrhagic fever, which
usually causes victims to die of bleeding through various orifices, Health
Ministry Spokesman Paul Kabwa said.
Twenty two people have so far died of the fever.
"Cumulatively, we have got 101 cases of Ebola -- those who fit the case
definition," Kabwa said, adding that all were in western Uganda's Bundibugyo
district, except for two in Kampala, including a doctor who died.
He said 39 had been admitted to hospital in serious condition and 350
others suspected of having been exposed to the virus were being urged to stay
at home.
"They are being observed because they are possible contacts with Ebola
cases," Kabwa said. "They are not being confined."
The outbreak, which started in August, has sparked panic amongst
officials, health workers and the public.
"A bigger Ebola bomb could explode, claiming many more lives,"
Bundibugyo district chairman Jackson Bambalira was quoted as saying in the
state-owned New Vision daily on Friday.
Bundibugyo borders Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose Ebola river
gave the virus its name after some of the first cases were recorded in its
valley in 1976.
The independent Daily Monitor said Congo had sealed the border with the
district. Congolese officials denied this.
"We have not closed the border," Congolese Health Ministry official Dr
Benoit Kabela told Reuters by telephone from Kinshasa. "We have just informed
people in the region they need to be vigilant."
Kabela said the local population in neighbouring eastern Congo had been
sensitised about the risk while medical staff had been deployed and given
protective gear as a precaution.
Neighbours Kenya, to the east, and Rwanda, to the southwest, are
screening travellers entering from Uganda.
The four-month delay between the start of the outbreak and confirmation
last week that it was Ebola has raised suspicions the government covered it up
so as not to scare delegates -- Britain's Queen Elizabeth and 53 heads of
government -- who met in Kampala two weeks ago for a Commonwealth summit.
The government denies it withheld information. It says it took time for
test results to come back from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
in the United States.
Commentators have criticised the government's response as sluggish and
say Uganda should have learned from an Ebola outbreak in 2000, when 425 people
caught it and over half died.
Uganda's medical workers union have called on staff to refuse to care
for patients unless they have proper protective gear, following the death of
four medical staff. (editing by Mary Gabriel)
Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
Univ of West Indies
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is under anarchy"
Groupe de Communication Mulindwas
"Avec Yoweri Museveni, L'Ouganda East Dans L'anarchie"_______________________________________________
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