Persons crossing the border of Kenya and Uganda along Suam trading center are currently being subjected to screening just to ensure that they do not cross the country carrying the virus that causes Ebola.
So far sixteen people have been confirmed to have died from Ebola in Uganda. Quite a number are admitted at Mulago National hospital nursing infections of the disease surveillance .
This morning at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret about 70kms away from Kenya Uganda Border, one person was diagnosed suffering from what doctors highly suspect to be traces of the virus that cause Ebola.
Doctors at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital are yet to fully determine and confirm the infection but have not ruled out the dreaded disease due to the similarity of symptoms witnessed.
The highly infectious and killer disease Ebola was reported in western Uganda about a week ago and medical personnel across the border fear that if immediate measures are not taken the disease may spill over to Kenya.
According to the Medical Officer of health in-charge of Endebes district, that also border Uganda Dr. Melab Musabi, they are currently screening every trader, driver and cross border pastoralists.
The following facts explain Ebola disease. Ebola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola HF) is a severe, often-fatal disease in humans and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees) that has appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976.
The disease is caused by infection with Ebola virus, named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) in Africa, where it was first recognized.
The virus is one of two members of a family of RNA viruses called the Filoviridae. There are five identified subtypes of Ebola virus.
Four of the five have caused disease in humans with high case fatality ratio (25–90%): Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Ivory Coast and Ebola-Bundibugyo.
The fifth, Ebola-Reston, has caused disease in nonhuman primates, but not in humans. There is no standard treatment for Ebola HF. Patients receive supportive therapy.
This consists of balancing the patient’s fluids and electrolytes, maintaining their oxygen status and blood pressure, and treating them for any complicating infections.
Several potential vaccines are being tested but it could be several years before any is available. A new drug therapy has shown some promise in laboratory studies and is currently being evaluated.
Experimental studies using hyper-immune sera on animals have shown no protection against the disease.
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