Panic As Nine-Year-Old Girl Dies From Ebola In Uganda

 

A nine-year-old girl who tested positive for Ebola in Uganda after travelling from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo has died, a Ugandan health official told AFP on Friday.

“She passed on at around 0800 (0500 GMT) this morning,” said Yusuf Baseka, health director in Kasese, a district in southwestern Uganda along the border with DR Congo.

The child, who is of Congolese origin, was diagnosed after exhibiting symptoms at a border crossing in Kasese district on Wednesday.

She was subsequently isolated and transferred to an Ebola treatment unit.

Her body would be repatriated to DR Congo later Friday, Dr Baseka said.

The girl is the fourth victim diagnosed with Ebola in Uganda to have died from a haemorrhagic fever.

In June, three members of a single-family tested positive for Ebola in Uganda after entering from DR Congo. Two died in Uganda, while the third succumbed to the disease after returning to DR Congo.

Uganda has been on high alert since the start of an Ebola outbreak in neighbouring DR Congo in August 2018.

Health officials in DR Congo said Friday that the death toll from that epidemic had crossed 2,000 people.