Health Ministry Issues Warning against Travel to Ugandan Regions due to Ebola

On Friday, a warning was issued by the Health Ministry in Israel against traveling to some parts of Uganda because the East African country is suffering from an Ebola outbreak.

The outbreak of the Sudan Ebola had been reported last week by the health ministry in Uganda and it has already managed to claim several lives.

It is believed that the outbreak began in the Mubende District in Uganda and its main town is located along the highway into Kampala, the capital.

The cases

So far, they have reported a total of 50 cases, some confirmed and others suspected. There have been six confirmed death because of the virus and another 18 are suspected to have been caused by it.

According to the Israeli statement, some of the cases have been identified in some nearby districts since then.

However, as of Friday, the virus appeared to be confined to Uganda alone. Nonetheless, Israelis were warned to not travel to Mubende, or any other district in Uganda that has active patients of the Ebola virus.

This also includes the Kassanda district, which is located between Mubende and the capital Kampala.

WHO warning

The Sudan strain of Ebola does not have any vaccine. An epidemiologist in Africa with the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Patrick Otim, said that they need to take this outbreak very seriously.

He said that doing so was necessary because they do not have the advantage that are usually offered by the medical countermeasures.

Contact with contaminated materials, or the bodily fluids of an infected person spreads Ebola and it is manifested as a deadly hemorrhagic fever.

The symptoms of the Ebola virus include diarrhea, vomiting, muscle pain, fever and external and internal bleeding at times. The incubation period can go for as long as 21 days.

The Israeli warning

The Health Ministry in Israel warned that anyone traveling to those areas should avoid physical contact with deceased or confirmed patients, along with their secretions and bodily fluids.

These include stool, blood, urine, vomit and saliva, along with any other item that may have come into contact with an infected patient.

Some of the other recommendations that were also made included avoiding unprotected sex, crowded gatherings and eating raw meat. Maintaining personal hygiene was another recommendation.

The ministry asked that those who experience headaches, fever, diarrhea, vomiting, pain in the abdomen, muscle aches, or unexplained bleeding while staying in Uganda, or 21 days after returning to Israel should enter quarantine immediately and inform their doctor.

A confirmed Ebola case had first been reported in Uganda in the latest outbreak on September 20^th. There have been several Ebola outbreaks in Uganda, which include the one in 2000.

It ended up claiming the lives of about 200 people. Authorities in Congo said last month that a new case of Ebola identified in the city of Beni had been connected to a previous outbreak.

More than 15,000 people have lost their lives to Ebola since the virus appeared.