KILLER THREAT
Second major Ebola outbreak declared this week as 9 killed and ‘deadly cousin’ virus with 90% mortality rate spreads
Plus, how Ebola spreads and all the signs and symptoms you need to know
A SECOND Ebola outbreak has been declared in Africa this week, with up to nine people already dead.
Uganda reported an outbreak in the capital, Kampala, with the first case being a man who died on Wednesday.
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Earlier this month, a potential outbreak of the same disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR), bordering Uganda, sickened 12 and killed eight.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Tanzania, nine people have died after testing positive for the Marburg virus, a highly infectious cousin of Ebola.
The patient in Uganda, a 32-year-old male nurse, sought treatment after developing fever-like symptoms.
"They experienced multi-organ failure and succumbed to the illness at Mulago National Referral Hospital on January 29," Uganda’s health ministry said.
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"Post-mortem samples confirmed the Sudan Ebola virus disease (strain)," it added.
Forty-four people, including 30 health workers, have been identified for contact tracing.
However, tracking people could prove difficult as Kampala, a city of over four million, is a major hub for travel to South Sudan, Congo, Rwanda, and other countries.
The Sudan strain is the most contagious but least deadly variant of the Ebola virus, though it still kills around half of those it infects.
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Vaccination against Ebola for all contacts of the deceased will begin immediately, the ministry said.
The suspected cases in the DCR were reported in the Boyenge health area, located in the west of the country, about 1,500 km from Kampala.
First case of deadly Ebola-like Marburg virus with a fatality rate as high as 88pc detected in Guinea, West Africa
The eight deaths occurred between January 10 and 22, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official told .
Samples from patients have been sent to a laboratory in Mbandaka to confirm the source of the outbreak, Colomba Mampuya, president of the Red Cross/Equateur committee told .
Ebola is a rare but serious disease causing vomiting and diarrhoea, rashes, kidney and liver failure, and bleeding into the whites of the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
The fatality rate of the Zaire strain can be as high as 80-90 per cent, if left untreated.
Ebola was first detected in the mid-1970s in simultaneous outbreaks in South Sudan and the Congo.
Since then, the deadly disease has been behind dozens of outbreaks in the region and killed thousands.
The last outbreak took place in 2022, in Uganda and was declared over in January 2023 after it claimed the lives of 55 people.
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'Very high fatality rate'
Earlier this week, health authorities in Tanzania, which shares a border with eastern DRC and southern Uganda, sounded the alarm over an outbreak of Marburg fever.
Since the country officially announced the outbreak last week, 10 people have tested positive for the virus and nine have died - reflecting the virus's 90 per cent mortality rate.
Ngashi Ngongo, from Africa's Centre for Disease Control Centre (CDC) told an online briefing that the figures highlighted "the very high case fatality of Marburg".
"We are doing everything we can with WHO and all the partners," he said.
It comes a month after WHO declared the end of a three-month Marburg outbreak in Rwanda, which killed 15 people.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the WHO, previously said the global risk from Tanzania's current outbreak was "low".
"Even though there is no approved treatment or vaccines, outbreaks can be stopped quickly," he said.
"WHO advises against restrictions. Now is the time for collaboration."
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Marburg has been flagged by the WHO as a "priority pathogen" with pandemic potential.
Previous outbreaks have seen around half of those infected die, though in places where health care is poor, that has risen to nearly 90 per cent.
How does Ebola spread?
The virus is transmitted through direct contact with blood and body fluids and objects that have been contaminated by someone with Ebola.
It also spreads through contact with sick or dead wild animals.
It can taken symptoms two to 21 days to appear following infection - this is known as an incubation period.
Ebola first manifests as a high fever, intense muscle and joint pain, headaches and a sore throat.
Initial symptoms are often followed by vomiting and diarrhoea, rashes on the skin, kidney and liver failure, and sometimes internal and external bleeding.
People who survive the virus can suffer from arthritis as well as vision and hearing problems.
Some types of Ebola can be prevented with vaccines and treated with medicines.
Source: World Health Organisation
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