By Tolit Ivan
The Health Ministry has suspended mass gatherings in high-risk border sub-counties and towns, including Elegu Border Town in Amuru district following Ebola outbreak in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
Uganda confirmed three new cases on Saturday, bringing its total infections to five, while the African Centres for Disease Control warned 10 other countries on the continent were at risk from the outbreak. It named Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.
Geoffrey Orsbon Oceng, the Amuru Resident District Commissioner who is also the chairperson of the District Ebola Taskforce said the Task Force with consultation with the Health Ministry has resolved to suspend public gatherings including night discos, church gatherings, and music concerts in Elegu as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the disease.
Ebola viruses normally infect animals, typically fruit bats, but outbreaks among humans can sometimes start when people eat or handle infected animals.
It takes two to 21 days for symptoms to appear. They come on suddenly and start like the flu or malaria, with fever, headache and tiredness.
As the disease progresses, vomiting and diarrhoea develop and it can lead to organ failure. Some, but not all, patients develop internal and external bleeding.
The virus spreads from one person to another by contact with infected bodily fluids such as blood or vomit.
