Uganda says 9 more Ebola cases confirmed in Kampala, urges vigilance

Uganda has reported nine more Ebola cases in the capital Kampala, bringing the total number of known infections to 14 in the last two days, this is according to a reporter issued today Monday, by the health minister.

The outbreak began in September in a rural part of central Uganda. It spread earlier this month to Kampala, a city of more than 1.6 million people, by a man who had come from the Kassanda district to seek medical treatment and later died.

Seven of the nine who tested positive on Sunday are family members of the man who died and are from the Kampala neighbourhood of Masanafu, Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said in a tweet.

Another is a health worker who treated the man and his wife in a private clinic, she said.

“Fellow Ugandans, let’s be vigilant. Report yourself if you have had contact or know of a person who has had contact,” Aceng said in her tweet.

Health ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyoona said all of the patients in Kampala were in isolation when they became symptomatic, reducing any chance of them passing on the virus.

There have been more than 90 confirmed and probable cases in Uganda since the start of the outbreak, including at least 44 deaths, according to statements by the health ministry and the World Health Organization.

Ebola spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. It generally kills about half of the people it infects. Its symptoms include intense weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat, vomiting and diarrhoea.

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