Uganda confirms death by Ebola-like virus

Uganda has begun mobilizing response teams and issuing health alerts, a health ministry statement said on Monday, after a radiographer died of the Ebola-like Marburg virus on September 28. The 30-year-old died in Mengo hospital in Kampala, where he worked. He contracted the illness 11 days ago.

"So far, a total of 80 people who got into contact with the initial confirmed case have been identified and isolated," the statement said.

Those quarantined include 38 health workers from the same hospital and 22 workers from a government hospital near the capital where the health technician was being treated. Twenty people living in the area where the deceased was buried have also been placed under isolation.

Meanwhile, the Ugandan government alerted all its health teams which were previously engaged in fighting outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever. "We are telling the people to be on maximum alert," news agency dpa quoted health services chief Jane Aceng as saying.

Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda attempted to assuage fears of an Ebola-like outbreak through a statement on Twitter.

"Uganda has previously successfully handled similar situations of health threats involving hemorrhagic fevers," he wrote.

The Marburg pathogen gets its name from the German city of Marburg, where it was first discovered in 1967. It is very similar to the Ebola virus and infected persons display almost identical symptoms like severe bleeding, fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Marburg spreads from one victim to another through bodily fluids, the same way Ebola does. Fatality rates for victims vary from 24 to 88 percent.

Uganda is not new to outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever. A Marburg outbreak in 2012 killed nine while an Ebola epidemic in 2000-2001 claimed nearly 225 lives.

mg/mz (dpa, AP, AFP)