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UN:
DEADLY OUTBREAK OF EBOLA VIRUS IN UGANDA WORSENS, SAYS UN HEALTH AGENCY:
07/12/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 07 December 2007 --
The number of suspected cases of Ebola
haemorrhagic fever in western Uganda has almost doubled in the past 10 days, and
four health-care workers are now among the fatalities, the United Nations World
Health Organization (WHO) reported today.
There
are 93 suspected cases in Uganda’s Bundibugyo District, up from 51 cases on 28
November, and laboratory analysis has confirmed the presence of a new species of
the virus in nine cases.
WHO said
in an update on the outbreak released today that there have been at least 22
fatalities so far, including the four health-care workers.
The UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), WHO and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such
as Médecins Sans Frontières are helping the Ugandan health authorities with
logistics, the provision of drugs and personal protection equipment to deter the
spread of the infection.
Ugandan
officials are also stepping up their public awareness campaign to alert local
communities to the outbreak and the importance of hygienic practices, including
in burying victims. Isolation wards have also been established at hospitals in
Kikyo and Bundibugyo.
The
Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs
or other bodily fluids of infected persons or animals such as chimpanzees,
gorillas, monkeys and antelopes, and it has an incubation period of two to 21
days.
Sufferers
can experience fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headaches and sore throats,
as well as vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes and impaired kidney and liver function.
In the most severe cases, the virus can lead to both external and internal
bleeding.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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