Officials: Ebola breaks out in Uganda
Source: Associated Press
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- The deadly Ebola virus has killed 14 people in western Uganda this month, Ugandan health officials said on Saturday, ending weeks of speculation about the cause of a strange disease that had many people fleeing their homes.
The officials and a World Health Organization representative told a news conference in Kampala Saturday that there is "an outbreak of Ebola" in Uganda.
Laboratory investigations done at the Uganda Virus Research Institute...have confirmed that the strange disease reported in Kibaale is indeed Ebola hemorrhagic fever," the Ugandan government and WHO said in joint statement.
Kibaale is a district in mid-western Uganda, where people in recent weeks have been troubled by a mysterious illness that seemed to have come from nowhere. Ugandan health officials had been stumped as well, and spent weeks conducting laboratory tests that were at first inconclusive.
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The five characterised Ebola species are:
Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV)
Also known simply as the Zaire virus, ZEBOV has the highest case-fatality rate of the ebolaviruses, up to 90% in some epidemics, with an average case fatality rate of approximately 83% over 27 years. There have been more outbreaks of Zaire ebolavirus than of any other species. The first outbreak took place on 26 August 1976 in Yambuku.[5] Mabalo Lokela, a 44‑year-old schoolteacher, became the first recorded case. The symptoms resembled malaria, and subsequent patients received quinine. Transmission has been attributed to reuse of unsterilized needles and close personal contact.
Sudan ebolavirus (SEBOV)
Like the Zaire virus, SEBOV emerged in 1976; it was at first assumed to be identical with the Zaire species.[6] SEBOV is believed to have broken out first amongst cotton factory workers in Nzara, Sudan, with the first case reported as a worker exposed to a potential natural reservoir. Scientists tested local animals and insects in response to this; however, none tested positive for the virus. The carrier is still unknown. The lack of barrier nursing (or "bedside isolation"
facilitated the spread of the disease. The most recent outbreak occurred in May, 2004. 20 confirmed cases were reported in Yambio County, Sudan, with five deaths resulting.
The average fatality rates for SEBOV were 54% in 1976, 68% in 1979, and 53% in 2000 and 2001.
Reston ebolavirus (REBOV)
Discovered during an outbreak of simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) in crab-eating macaques from Hazleton Laboratories (now Covance) in 1989. Since the initial outbreak in Reston, Virginia, it has since been found in non-human primates in Pennsylvania, Texas and Siena, Italy. In each case, the affected animals had been imported from a facility in the Philippines,[7] where the virus has also infected pigs.[8] Despite its status as a Level‑4 organism and its apparent pathogenicity in monkeys, REBOV did not cause disease in exposed human laboratory workers.
The physical building in which the outbreak occurred was demolished on 30 May 1995 and a new building constructed in its place. This facility, which is part of the Isaac Newton Square office park, located at 1946 Isaac Newton Sq W, Reston, Virginia, became a KinderCare, then became a Mulberry Child Care and preschool center as of 2007, and as of 2009 is once again a KinderCare.
Reston virus reemerged in Italy in 1992, and again in a monkey export facility in the Philippines in 1996.
On 11 December 2008, pigs from farms slightly north of Manila, Philippines tested positive for the virus. The CDC and the World Health Organization are investigating. On 23 January 2009, Philippine health officials announced that a hog farm worker had been infected with the virus. Although the man was asymptomatic and the source of the infection is uncertain, this could represent the first case of pig-to-human transmission of Reston virus - a fact that could cause concern, as pigs may be able to transmit more deadly diseases to humans. The situation is undergoing further investigation.
Côte d'Ivoire ebolavirus (CIEBOV)
Also referred to as Taï Forest ebolavirus and by the English place name, "Ivory Coast", it was first discovered among chimpanzees from the Taï Forest in Côte d'Ivoire, Africa, in 1994. Necropsies showed blood within the heart to be brown; no obvious marks were seen on the organs; and one necropsy displayed lungs filled with blood. Studies of tissues taken from the chimpanzees showed results similar to human cases during the 1976 Ebola outbreaks in Zaire and Sudan. As more dead chimpanzees were discovered, many tested positive for Ebola using molecular techniques. The source of the virus was believed to be the meat of infected Western Red Colobus monkeys, upon which the chimpanzees preyed. One of the scientists performing the necropsies on the infected chimpanzees contracted Ebola. She developed symptoms similar to those of dengue fever approximately a week after the necropsy, and was transported to Switzerland for treatment. She was discharged from the hospital after two weeks and had fully recovered six weeks after the infection.
Bundibugyo ebolavirus
On November 24, 2007, the Uganda Ministry of Health confirmed an outbreak of Ebolavirus in the Bundibugyo District. After confirmation of samples tested by the United States National Reference Laboratories and the CDC, the World Health Organization confirmed the presence of the new species. On 20 February 2008, the Uganda Ministry officially announced the end of the epidemic in Bundibugyo, with the last infected person discharged on 8 January 2008.[11] An epidemiological study conducted by WHO and Uganda Ministry of Health scientists determined there were 116 confirmed and probable cases the new Ebola species, and that the outbreak had a mortality rate of 34% (39 deaths).
-Wikipedia
