New Uganda Ebola fever outbreak

Ugandan officials and a World Health Organisation representative told a news conference in Kampala on Saturday 28 July  that there was an outbreak of Ebola inUganda, ending weeks of speculation about a mysterious disease in the Kibaale district of midwestern Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The origin of the outbreak has not yet been confirmed. Officials stated  that the 14 dead, including a family of 12, were among 20 reported with Ebola, which causes haemorrhagic fever and internal bleeding. A health worker who treated patients infected by the disease was also among the dead. There is no specific  treatment and no vaccine against Ebola, which is transmitted by close personal contact. The virus first emerged in 1976 in the DRC and takes its name from the Ebola River. It broke out in Uganda in 2000 and re-emerged in 2008. A national emergency taskforce has been set up by the Ugandan Government assisted by the World Health Organisation to contain the disease.