Uganda has reported nine more Ebola cases in the capital, Kampala, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 14 in the past two days, the health minister said on Monday.
The outbreak began in rural central Uganda in September. Earlier this month, a man from the Kasanda district who had come for treatment spread the disease to Kampala, a city of more than 1.6 million people, and later died.
Seven of the nine who tested positive on Sunday were family members of the deceased man and were from the Kampala district of Masanafu, Health Minister Jane Ruth Asen said in a tweet.
Another is a medical worker who treated a man and his wife at a private clinic, she said.
“Ugandans, please be vigilant. If you have been in contact or know someone who has been in contact, please report yourself,” Aceng said in a tweet.
Ministry of Health spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyona said all patients in Kampala are being quarantined when they develop symptoms, reducing their chances of spreading the virus.
Ebola is spread through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person.
Uganda has had more than 90 confirmed and probable cases, including at least 44 deaths, since the start of the outbreak, according to statements from the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization.
The virus circulating in Uganda is the Sudan strain of Ebola, and unlike the more common Zaire strain that spread in the recent outbreak in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, there is no proven vaccine.
Ebola generally kills about half of those infected. Its symptoms include severe weakness, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting, and diarrhea.
follow