Uganda has Ebola screening points along its border with DR Congo
Nine-year old Ugandan contracts Ebola on visit to Congo
A nine-year old Ugandan girl who had travelled from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo was found to have a fever during screening for Ebola at the Mpondwe border crossing.
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Uganda’s health ministry has confirmed that the girl has Ebola, making a new Ebola case in the western town of Kasese.
Uganda has Ebola screening points along its border with DR Congo
A blood sample that was sent for testing confirmed on Thursday evening that she had Ebola.
Initial symptoms can include a sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain and a sore throat.
Subsequent stages can bring vomiting, diarrhoea and – in some cases – both internal and external bleeding.
The girl has been isolated and transferred to an Ebola treatment unit.
Uganda has maintained largely successful screening centres along its border with DR Congo in an effort to keep out an outbreak that has killed close to 2,000 people in the last year.
In June, there were two Ebola cases in the country.
A Ugandan man and his Congolese wife lost two sons after their return from a trip to DR Congo to see relatives.
Uganda has been asked by the Congolese authorities and father of a nine-year-old girl who has been diagnosed with Ebola that she be sent home to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Ugandan health ministry spokesperson says.
Emmanuel Ainebyoona told BBC Newsday that officials were working out possible arrangements for the girl and her mother to go to DR Congo “where there is treatment that has been proven efficacious”.
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