Ebola virus kills 14 in Uganda

The lethal Ebola virus has left at least 14 people dead in western Uganda this month, according to Health Ministry officials, after local reports of a “strange disease” swept through the region The officials and a World Health Organisation (WHO) representative told a news conference in Kampala that there is “an outbreak of Ebola” in the country. Ugandan health officials say about 20 people in Kibaale, western Uganda, came down with the disease this month. The symptoms were high fever, internal bleeding, and liver disorder, according to (WHO) The viral disease in many cases kills 50 to 90% of those infected. Uganda, Congo, and other African countries have experienced mass outbreaks of Ebola fever, claiming many lives. There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, and in Uganda, where in 2000 the disease killed 224 people and left hundreds more traumatised, it resurrects terrible memories. There have been isolated cases since, such as in 2007 when an outbreak of a new strain of Ebola killed at least 37 people in Bundibugyo, a remote district close to the Congolese border, but none as deadly as in 2000. Ebola, which manifests itself as a hemorrhagic fever, is highly infectious and kills quickly. It was first reported in 1976 in Congo and is named after the river where it was recognized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The WHO plans to send a team to the area to prevent a spread of the disease in cooperation with the Ugandan government.