UGANDA/FILE: Ebola virus kills a 12-year-old Ugandan girl and health officials say they expect more cases

Record ID: 420981

  • Title: UGANDA/FILE: Ebola virus kills a 12-year-old Ugandan girl and health officials say they expect more cases
  • Date: 15th May 2011
  • Summary: KAMPALA UGANDA (MAY 14, 2011) (REUTERS) SIGN FOR MINISTRY OF HEALTH HEADQUARTERS MINISTRY OF HEALTH HEADQUARTERS MINISTRY OF HEALTH OFFICIALS ADDRESSING JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTONY MBONYE, COMMISSIONER FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH. SAYING: "There is a confirmed case of Ebola, there was a twelve year old girl in Zirobwe sub county in Luwero district who died in Bombo military hospital on 6th may 2011. Laboratory investigations have confirmed Ebola as the cause of the illness and death. So far the people who were in contact with the patient are being observed and followed up. The ministry of health is working with stake holders and partners to contain the situation." VARIOUS OF JOURNALIST DURING PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTONY MBONYE, COMMISSIONER FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH, SAYING: "Persons who have died of ebola must be handled with strong protective wear and buried immediately, avoiding feasting and funerals and we urge the public to avoid eating dead animals especially monkeys. The ministry of health and development partners calls upon the public to stay calm as much as possible because the measures we have put in place will control the epidemic." JOURNALIST DURING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Uganda
  • Country: Uganda
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA4BV3JZ86PX2P94BOF6PQ4LAOM
  • Story Text: The rare and deadly Ebola virus has killed a 12-year-old Ugandan girl and health officials said on Saturday (May 14) they expected more cases.
    The girl from Luwero district, 75 km (45 miles) north of the capital Kampala, died on May 6, said Anthony Mbonye, the government's commissioner for community health, in the first outbreak of the virus in Uganda in four years.
    "Laboratory investigations have confirmed Ebola as the cause of the illness and death. So far the people who were in contact with the patient are being observed and followed up," he said.
    There is no treatment and no vaccine against Ebola, which is transmitted by close personal contact and, depending on the strain, kills up to 90 percent of victims.
    The last time Uganda was hit by Ebola -- a disease in which those infected often bleed to death -- it killed 37 people.
    Ugandan health officials are following up 33 people who were in contact with the girl, he said. Mbonye asked Ugandans to avoid eating monkeys, and to not hold lengthy funerals, but bury bodies immediately. People have contracted Ebola after eating improperly cooked monkey meat.
    Representatives from the World Health Organisation attended the press briefing in the capital.
    Uganda said it had notified its neighbours of the outbreak.
    The 2007 outbreak sparked panic amongst officials, health workers and the public. At the time, President Yoweri Museveni urged Ugandans to stop shaking hands in an attempt to halt the spread of Ebola.
    Its initial symptoms include sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes, impaired kidney and liver function and both internal and external bleeding.
    Mbonye said rapid response teams were on standby to treat those with symptoms, and urged people to remain calm. He said the strain in the outbreak was Sudanic ebola, which has a 50-60 percent fatality rate.
    Ebola has caused dozens of deadly outbreaks across Africa and threatens endangered gorilla populations as well as people.
    It is considered a possible bioterrorism weapon.
    The virus is named after the Ebola River Valley in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), which is near the site of the first recognized outbreak in 1976.
    END
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