Two new confirmed cases of Ebola virus infection have been registered in Uganda, the Ugandan Ministry of Health announced on Monday in a press release.
These two new patients bring to seven the number of confirmed cases – of which one is deceased – recorded in Uganda since the beginning of the current epidemic of hemorrhagic fever with the Ebola virus, declared on May 15 in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“These two new confirmed cases are Ugandan members of the medical staff of a private clinic in Kampala”, the capital, who were “admitted to the dedicated treatment unit and are currently being treated”, says the ministry.
More than 900 people are suspected of having been infected by the Ebola virus in the DRC since the beginning of this epidemic, estimated Sunday evening the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In its latest report published on Saturday, the Ministry of Health of the DRC indicated that the epidemic had caused 204 deaths out of 867 suspected cases in the country.
The DRC declared on May 15 an epidemic of the Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo variant, against which there is currently no vaccine or specific treatment and which has a fatality rate of up to 50%. The WHO has launched an international health alert.
Ebola has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years with a mortality rate varying between 25% and 90%, according to the WHO.
Source: Lequotidien
