Скачать или смотреть UGANDA: EBOLA VIRUS OUTBREAK UPDATE

(16 Oct 2000) English/Nat

On Monday morning, Okot Achala, buried his wife, a victim of the latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

Christine Ajaw is one of 35 people who've died so far in northern Uganda rose to 35 people, another 38 were infected.

Local custom means there's no collective cemetery and after a body is washed, relatives bury their dead outside their home.

This means the disease is more likely to spread.

There are also fears that the authorities have ben caught unawares and have been slow to alert the population to the dangers.

Authorities have quarantined three neighborhoods in on the outskirts of Gulu.

They are also discouraging people from washing clothes or themselves in common water pools.

They are also discouraging the cleaning the bodies of the dead, said T. Zablon, a doctor at Lacor Hospital in Gulu where some of the victims are being treated.

There is no quarantine in Gulu itself, which is politically and economically important to the region.

There is also a lot of through traffic, again raising fears that the infection could spread.

Professor Francis Omswa, director general of Uganda's medical services said the epidemic was restricted to certain areas of Gulu but added that two cases had been reported in the neighboring district of Kitgum.

The Ugandan ministry of health announced late on Saturday that the virus which was claiming lives in Gulu, 225 miles north of Kampala, had been identified as Ebola.

Ebola is a type of haemorhagic fever that kills up to 90 percent of its victims.

The Minister of Health, Crispus Kiyonga, said some of the infected had been treated and sent home, while others were in hospital isolation units.

He said technical assistance and 120 thousand dollars had been pledged by international aid organizations.

Ebola outbreaks usually only last a few weeks since the victims die faster than they are able to spread the virus.

Four investigators from the U-S Center for Disease Control in Atlanta were to leave for Gulu either Monday or Tuesday to help determine the origin of the outbreak and find ways to contain it.

Two World Health Organization experts are also in the area.

The last major Ebola outbreak struck Kikwit, Congo, in 1995, which killed 245 people.

SOUNDBITE: (Acholi)
"My wife bled from the nose, my wife had bloody diarrhoea. This morning she died and I buried her here."
SUPER CAPTION: Okot Achala, Husband

SOUNDBITE: (Acholi)
"The Ebola disease has been declared. We cannot deny this fact. That is one way to alert people that we have this problem. Any assistance that can be channeled to this place will be greatly appreciated."
SUPER CAPTION: Okot Lokach, Gulu District Director for Health Services

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"So I'm scared this infection may infect my children
SUPER CAPTION: Jessica Ogeti, Villager

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