Uganda alerts Kenya to Ebola danger

Health officials in Uganda have alerted their counterparts in the Kenyan health ministry to the possible danger of an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever after it was discovered that seven Kenyans attended the funeral of a fellow citizen believed to have died from the disease in Masindi district, western Uganda, late last month. The woman who died was buried in traditional manner - one of the principal causes of transmission of the disease, the BBC reported. Since then, three of her relatives have died, including her husband, who tested positive for the Ebola antigen. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the woman had been hospitalised in Gulu - the northern district where Ebola first broke out - and contracted the disease from an infected nurse. Staff from the Ugandan health ministry, WHO, the US Centre for Disease Control, and the health NGO Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) arrived in Masindi on Monday "to implement barrier nursing procedures and trace contacts", it said. Uganda's Director-General of Health Services Dr Francis Omaswa said on Tuesday he had spoken to his Kenyan counterpart, who had already located those Kenyans who attended the funeral in Masindi. The seven had shown no signs of Ebola but were quarantined in their homes and would be monitored for 42 days before being declared free of infection, a Kenyan health ministry statement, cited by local media, said. In all, some 150 people who attended the funeral in Masindi were under medical surveillance, Omaswa added. A team of experts from Gulu were due to travel to Kenya on Wednesday to offer advice on how to deal with any potential Ebola epidemic, the BBC report said. "Despite this ominous-sounding development, the Ugandan authorities remain confident that the Ebola epidemic is coming under control," it added. WHO on 3 November recommended that no special restrictions were required on travel or trade to or from Uganda. Many countries have routine health regulations concerning travel and trade, and "no specific measures with respect to Ebola haemorrhagic fever are warranted or advised," it said. From 8-11 November inclusive, only five confirmed Ebola cases were recognised in Gulu, bringing the cumulative figures for the district to 320 cases and 104 deaths, the health agency stated on Tuesday. In the southwest Mbarara district, three people are confirmed to have died from the disease. All of the cases in Mbarara and Masindi had resulted from people infected in Gulu, and, at the national level, the number of new cases of Ebola fever had "declined sharply", WHO added. Ebola is an acute viral illness with symptoms including sudden onset of fever, malaise and headache, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea and rash. Haemorrhagic fever is often accompanied by liver damage, kidney failure and terminal shock. It is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or semen of infected people. The current outbreak is the first in Uganda.