Ebola kills girl in Uganda, more cases expected

KAMPALA: The rare and deadly Ebola virus has killed a 12-year-old Ugandan girl, and health officials said on Saturday they expected more cases.
The girl from Luwero district, 75 km north of the capital Kampala, died on May 6, said Anthony Mbonye, the government’s commissioner for community health, in the first outbreak of the virus in Uganda in four years.
“Laboratory investigations have confirmed Ebola to be the primary cause of the illness and death. So there is one case reported but we expect other cases,” he said.
“Just one case is considered an epidemic because it can spread quickly and it is highly fatal.”
The last time Uganda was hit by Ebola – a disease in which those infected often bleed to death – it killed 37 people.
Mbonye said this was the closest a case had ever been reported to Kampala.
Ugandan health officials are following up 33 people who were in contact with the girl, he said.