Second patient dies of Ebola in Uganda

BWERA AFP JUNE13,2019Uganda on Thursday recorded its second Ebola fatality since the virus spread from neighbouring DR Congo, where officials said a 10-month-old epidemic had now killed more than 1,400 people.

The new toll came as Uganda’s health ministry announced that five people, including one with Ebola, had been repatriated to the Democratic Republic of Congo after coming into close contact with the two deceased victims. The lethal virus crossed into Uganda when a family with small children and their nanny travelled to the DRC to take care of a relative, who later died of Ebola.

The six people “escaped” an isolation ward in the DRC and returned to Uganda via an unofficial crossing on the porous border on Sunday, according to the UN’S World Health Organization (WHO).

The next day a five-year-old boy was checked into hospital in western Bwera vomiting blood.

Both he and his grandmother have since died from Ebola, and his threeyear-old brother is fighting the virus.