Health Ministry Confirms Ebola Outbreak

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that two people succumbed to the deadly Ebola virus in Luweero District last weekend. Luweero District is located 40km north of the capital Kampala.

Rehema Najjemba and Gladys Namakula both members of the same family in Sombwe Parish, Nyimbwa Sub County, Luweero District died over the weekend with Ebola symptoms.

Blood samples of the deceased that were tested at the Central Public Health Laboratory confirmed that the two had died of Ebola haemorrahagic fever of the Sudan strain according to Dr. Joseph Okware, the Luweero District Health Officer

Dr Asuman Lukwago, the health ministry permanent secretary said they were treating the reported outbreak as an extension of hemorrhagic fevers that could be caused by either Ebola from Kibaale or Marburg from Kabale, Ibanda and Kabalore districts in western Uganda.

Meanwhile, Joaquim Saweka, the World Health Organization country representative told the media 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.

This comes a month after the Ministry of Health declared the country Ebola free with cases of Marburg fever related to Ebola still under surveillance in the South western district of Kabale.

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.

About Post Author