KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — A five-year-old boy has been diagnosed with Ebola in Uganda, the first confirmed case in the country.
BBC reported that over 2,000 cases have been reported in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo over the past 10 months, most of which were fatal.
Ugandan Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng reportedly said yesterday that health authorities were monitoring the boy’s family members, including two who exhibited Ebola-like symptoms.
The Ebola outbreak in DR Congo is reportedly the second biggest in history. Almost 1,400 people have reportedly succumbed to the disease since last August.
BBC reported that only once before has an Ebola outbreak been growing over eight months after it began, which was the epidemic in West Africa from 2013 to 2016 that killed 11,310 people.
Ebola is a virus that initially causes sudden fever, sore throat, intense weakness, and muscle pain, before progressing to diarrhoea, vomiting, and external bleeding. Patients usually die from multiple organ failure and dehydration.
