Diseases
Government: Rapid increase in Ebola infections in Uganda
Two doctors in hazmat suits walk to the Ebola isolation area of the Mubende Regional Referral Hospital. In east African Uganda, the number of new infections with the deadly Ebola virus has risen sharply over the weekend. photo
© Hajarah Nalwadda/AP/dpa
The deadly virus is spreading at an alarming rate in Uganda. The health authorities registered 14 cases in just two days.
In east African Uganda, the number of new infections with the deadly Ebola virus has risen sharply over the weekend. 14 new cases were reported within 48 hours, 9 of them in the capital Kampala, Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said on Twitter on Monday.
A total of 75 people have now been infected with the virus and 28 people have died, Aceng said. Nine days ago, the government had spoken of 58 infected and 17 deaths. The outbreak became known after a 24-year-old man died in late September. After his death, the rare Sudan variant of the virus was detected in the patient.
From 2014 to 2016 there was the largest recorded outbreak of the virus infection in West Africa with more than 11,000 deaths. Ebola is transmitted through direct physical contact and often causes high fever and internal bleeding.
Aceng on Twitter