The World Health Organization (WHO) declared today on Wednesday that a new case of Ebola has been spotted in Uganda for the second time in a row, fuelling concerns that the virus may be spreading beyond Democratic Republic of Congo, as an expert panel weighs whether to sound the alarm internationally.
The latest case concerns a female fishmonger who was sick at Mpondwe market in Uganda on July 11 before dying of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo.
An incident that could spread the disease in Uganda, the World Health Organization reported on Wednesday.
@MinofHealthUG and the @WHO have confirmed a case of #Ebola Virus Disease outbreak in #Uganda. Although there have been numerous previous alerts, this is the first confirmed case in Uganda during the Ebola outbreak on-going in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. pic.twitter.com/aKq75YfI0I
— WHO Uganda (@WHOUganda) June 11, 2019
WHO said in a report that about 590 fishmongers at the market could be targeted for vaccination, and it had yet to establish the woman’s movements or who had transported her or her goods.
Ebola is highly infectious and spread through bodily fluids. The current outbreak, largely confined to Congo apart from three deaths in Uganda last month, has killed 1,676 people – more than two thirds of those who contracted it – over the past year.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this week that a case of the highly infectious disease in Goma was a potential gamechanger, since Ebola could spread among the urban population for the first time and into neighbouring Rwanda.
Via Reuters
