Kampala (dpa) - Ugandan health officials said Friday that the
country is now free of Ebola, after a national alert was declared on
May 6 following the death of a 12-year old girl from the disease.
No other person has been declared infected since.
"Today, only one case has been confirmed. We have successfully
managed to control the epidemic, recording no new cases due to our
previous experience in handling the disease," deputy health minister,
Dr Richard Nduhuura told reporters.
In 2000, at least 170 people died of Ebola in Uganda, with more
than 400 infected. Ebola is a usually fatal viral hemorrhagic fever.
Seven years later the disease killed 21 in the west of the
country.
Since then a national Ebola task force was set up to contain the
spread of the disease.
Some 25 people who had been in contact with the dead girl were
isolated and tested negative for Ebola.
Health officials said they have not established the source of the
disease in the latest outbreak but added that investigations were
still being carried out.
"We are investigating the source of the disease and we have
carried out tests on many bats but we have found them to be
negative," Miriam Nandujja, an advisor at the World Health
Organization offices in Kampala told the joint news conference.
Copyright 2011 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH