Nine more cases of Ebola virus have been confirmed in Uganda’s capital Kampala. This has brought the total cases of Ebola infection to 14 in the last two days, said Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng on Monday.
Out of the total nine who tested positive on Sunday, seven are the family members of the man who died due to Ebola infection. The health minister tweeted, “The family members belong to the Kampala neighborhood of Masanafu.”
Yesterday 23rd Oct 2022, nine (9) individuals were confirmed positive for #Ebola in Greater Kampala region bringing the total number of cases to 14 in the last 48 hours. The 9 cases are contacts of the fatal case who came from Kassanda district and passed on in Mulago Hospital.
— Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero (@JaneRuth_Aceng) October 24, 2022
7 family members are from Masanafu and 1 health worker who managed him in a private clinic together with his wife from Seguku.
Fellow Ugandans, let's be vigilant. Report yourself if you have had contact or know of a person who has had contact.
Lets cooperate to end Ebola.— Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero (@JaneRuth_Aceng) October 24, 2022
One of them is a health worker who gave treatment to the man and his wife, Jane Ruth Aceng said.
“Fellow Ugandans, let’s be vigilant. Report yourself if you have had contact or know of a person who has had contact,” Aceng further said in her tweet.
The infection started spreading in September in a rural area in central Uganda. In Kampala which has a population of over 1.6 million people, it spreaded earlier this month by a man who had arrived here from the Kassanda district to seek medical treatment and later died.
According to Emmanuel Ainebyoona, a spokesman for the health ministry, all of the Kampala patients were placed in isolation as soon as they began to exhibit symptoms, minimizing the risk of virus transmission.
An Ebola infected person can spread the disease through contact with bodily fluids. Since the beginning of the outbreak, there have been more than 90 confirmed and probable cases in Uganda, including at least 44 fatalities, according to statements from the health ministry and the World Health Organization.
Contrary to the more prevalent Zaire strain that spread during recent outbreaks in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ebola virus that is circulating in Uganda is the Sudan strain, for which there is no known vaccine.
About half of those infected with Ebola die as a result of the disease. Severe muscle pain, headaches, a sore throat, vomiting, and diarrhoea are some of its symptoms.
