July 31, 2012 -- Updated 1018 GMT (1818 HKT) | CCN
(CNN) -- Teams in Uganda are trying to track down anyone who came into contact with patients
infected with the Ebola virus, which has killed at least 14 people there this month, authorities said Monday.
"This is very, very important, to trace every contact and to watch them for an incubation period of 21 days,"
World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
The teams -- consisting of officials from Uganda's ministry of health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and the WHO -- are part of an aggressive approach to try to stamp out the outbreak of the
highly infectious virus.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni spoke on state and private television Sunday urging his countrymen to
be cautious.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=hi-ebola-rtr.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/hi-ebola-rtr.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
This month's outbreak in western Uganda initially went undetected because patients did not show typical
symptoms, Health Minister Dr. Christine Ondoa told CNN on Sunday. Patients had fevers and were vomiting,
but did not show other typical symptoms, such as hemorrhaging.
The Ebola virus is a highly infectious, often fatal agent spread through direct contact with bodily fluids.
Symptoms can include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, a measles-like rash, red eyes
and, at times, bleeding from body openings.
But diagnosis in an individual who has only recently been infected can be difficult since early symptoms,
such as red eyes and skin rash, are seen more frequently in patients who have more common diseases,
according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Uganda's Ministry of Health declared the outbreak in Kibaale district Saturday after getting confirmatory
results from the Uganda Virus Research Institute identifying the disease as Ebola hemorrhagic fever,
Sudan strain.
The fatality rate for those infected with that strain is about 65%, Hartl said. National health authorities
say that in addition to the 14 deaths, at least six other people have been infected. Nine of the deaths
were from a single household in the village of Nyanswiga, according to WHO.
A medic who had treated other victims is among the dead, Ondoa said.
Officials were trying to determine the extent of the outbreak, CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said Sunday.
The Atlanta-based organization was sending about five people to join CDC staffers permanently based
in Uganda, he said.
(CNN) -- Teams in Uganda are trying to track down anyone who came into contact with patients
infected with the Ebola virus, which has killed at least 14 people there this month, authorities said Monday.
"This is very, very important, to trace every contact and to watch them for an incubation period of 21 days,"
World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
The teams -- consisting of officials from Uganda's ministry of health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and the WHO -- are part of an aggressive approach to try to stamp out the outbreak of the
highly infectious virus.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni spoke on state and private television Sunday urging his countrymen to
be cautious.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=hi-ebola-rtr.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/hi-ebola-rtr.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
This month's outbreak in western Uganda initially went undetected because patients did not show typical
symptoms, Health Minister Dr. Christine Ondoa told CNN on Sunday. Patients had fevers and were vomiting,
but did not show other typical symptoms, such as hemorrhaging.
The Ebola virus is a highly infectious, often fatal agent spread through direct contact with bodily fluids.
Symptoms can include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, a measles-like rash, red eyes
and, at times, bleeding from body openings.
But diagnosis in an individual who has only recently been infected can be difficult since early symptoms,
such as red eyes and skin rash, are seen more frequently in patients who have more common diseases,
according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Uganda's Ministry of Health declared the outbreak in Kibaale district Saturday after getting confirmatory
results from the Uganda Virus Research Institute identifying the disease as Ebola hemorrhagic fever,
Sudan strain.
The fatality rate for those infected with that strain is about 65%, Hartl said. National health authorities
say that in addition to the 14 deaths, at least six other people have been infected. Nine of the deaths
were from a single household in the village of Nyanswiga, according to WHO.
A medic who had treated other victims is among the dead, Ondoa said.
Officials were trying to determine the extent of the outbreak, CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said Sunday.
The Atlanta-based organization was sending about five people to join CDC staffers permanently based
in Uganda, he said.
