New Ebola outbreak hits Uganda, two dead

15 November 2012 - 11:41 By Sapa-AP
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Ebola virus Photograph: Michael Freeman/Corbis
Ebola virus Photograph: Michael Freeman/Corbis

Ugandan officials say a new outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever has killed at least two Ugandans in a district near the capital.

Health Minister Christine Ondoa told The Associated Press late Wednesday that investigators had found conclusive evidence of Ebola in Luweero, about 62 kilometers (38 miles) from Kampala, the capital.

Last month Uganda declared itself Ebola-free after an earlier outbreak of the disease killed at least 16 people in a remote district of western Uganda. It was not clear if the new outbreak and the previous one are related. In 2000 an Ebola outbreak in Uganda infected 425 people, killing more than half.

Ebola is highly infectious and kills quickly. It was first reported in 1976 in Congo and is named for the river where it was recognised.

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