Uganda confirms Ebola case outside Congo borders

KAMPALA, Uganda — A child in Uganda has tested positive for Ebola in the first cross-border case of the deadly virus since an outbreak started in neighboring Congo last year, Uganda’s health ministry said late Tuesday, in a blow to efforts by health workers who for months sought to prevent contamination across the heavily traveled frontier.

The 5-year-old Congolese boy has been isolated with family members at a hospital in a western district near the Congo border, Ugandan Health Minister Jane Aceng told reporters. Two family members were being tested for Ebola, with results expected on Wednesday.

The announcement puts new pressure on the World Health Organization to declare the Ebola outbreak — the second-deadliest in history — a global health emergency.

International spread is one of the major criteria the United Nations agency considers before such a declaration.

It was not immediately clear when the boy entered Uganda. A WHO statement said he entered on Sunday with his family through the Bwera border post. He sought treatment at Kagando hospital and was transferred to Bwera Ebola treatment unit, WHO said.

Congo’s health ministry in a separate statement said the boy, from Mabalako, arrived on Monday at Congo’s Kasindi border post.

There, a dozen family members appeared to have symptoms and were transferred to an isolation center at the local hospital for observation.

Six family members then broke away while being transferred to an Ebola treatment center in Beni and crossed into Uganda.

Officials from the two countries will meet on Wednesday about the possibility of sending the family back to Beni in Congo for treatment, the health ministry said.