Gavin Pattison, Gulu, Uganda | Tuesday
HEALTH officials in northern Uganda say they will use force if necessary to impose a quarantine on three districts at the centre of an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus – an incurable viral disease which liquefies victims’ internal organs and leads to death by bleeding in up to 90% of cases.
The World Health Organisation says 43 people have died of the virus, one of the most horrific and deadly known to mankind, since the outbreak was detected in Uganda two weeks ago.
Ugandan authorities said although they believed the situation was nearly under control, they would secure three areas where the majority of cases have come from.
With the WHO and aid organisations rushing teams of doctors and scientists to the area, the situation is fast beginning to resemble a Hollywood movie, with experts clad in biologically-secure space suits battling to stop the spread of a deadly disease in a remote community.
Ebola, which first emerged in what was then Zaire in 1996, is a haemorrhagic virus that causes patients to bleed to death through every orifice – including the eyes, gums and ears.
There is no vaccine and no known cure. It is spread through contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids and can kill within 48 hours.
One doctor said the symptoms were “like watching someone dissolve before your eyes”.
Facilities at Gulu hospital near the centre of the outbreak zone are stretched to breaking point, patients in various stages of the disease being looked after by staff clad in one-piece paper body suits, rubber gloves and face masks.
Despite this, staff are still terrified of infection. Three nurses from a nearby clinic have died after catching the virus while treating patients before the identity of the disease had been discovered. Two others are seriously ill. – Reuters, with additional reporting by Paul Busharizi in Gulu and Elif Kaban in Geneva.
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