updated 4:54 PM EDT, Thu August 2, 2012
Kagadi, Uganda (CNN) -- The hospital at the center of an Ebola outbreak in Uganda is now dealing with 30 suspected cases, including five from Kibaale prison, Dr. Dan Kyamanywa said Thursday.
Three patients at Kagadi hospital
have been confirmed as having the virus, said Kyamanywa, a district health
officer.
Doctors are now testing the
suspected cases urgently so they can separate confirmed cases from those who do
not have the disease, Doctors Without Borders said.
Suspected cases are still
trickling into the hospital, Kyamanywa said.
At least 16 people have died in
the current outbreak.
The five prisoners have been
showing Ebola-like
symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea and fever, the doctor said.
"We do expect the number of
suspected cases to increase," he said. "It's important to break transmission and
reduce the number of contacts that suspected cases have."
There is a fear that the outbreak
will spread to the capital, but it is unlikely, he said.
Many patients fled Kagadi
hospital when Ebola was confirmed, he said, and the hospital is struggling to
respond to all the call-outs to suspected cases.
"Right now there is no treatment
for Ebola, so the most effective measure we can take is to contain the spread of
the disease," said Olimpia de la Rosa, the Doctors Without Borders emergency
coordinator for Uganda Ebola intervention.
"That is why we need to start
working immediately. Other cases need to be rapidly identified because
containment is what can stop it," said the expert from the aid group, which is
also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The Ugandan government has asked
people in western Uganda to travel by public transport only if it is
necessary.
The outbreak began in the
Kibaale district in western Uganda.
The deaths have stoked
heightened fear about the spread of the virus, a highly infectious, often fatal
agent spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. Symptoms can include
fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, a measles-like rash, red
eyes and, at times, bleeding from body openings.
Market day was canceled
Wednesday after Uganda's president warned people not to gather in large
groups.
Health officials urged the
public to report any suspected cases, to avoid contact with anyone infected and
to wear gloves and masks while disinfecting bedding and clothing of infected
people. Officials also advised avoiding public gatherings in the affected
district.
Teams in Uganda are taking an
aggressive approach, including trying to track down anyone who came into contact
with patients infected with the virus and health workers have been gearing up
for better protection of health workers and an influx of cases.
The workers include people from
Uganda's ministry of health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World
Health Organization.
The outbreak initially went
undetected because patients did not show typical symptoms, Ugandan Health
Minister Dr. Christine Ondoa told CNN on Sunday. Patients had fevers and were
vomiting, but did not show other typical symptoms, such as hemorrhaging.
Diagnosis in an individual who
has only recently been infected can be difficult since early symptoms, such as
red eyes and skin rash, are seen more frequently in patients who have more
common diseases, the CDC said.
Uganda's Ministry of Health
declared the outbreak in Kibaale district Saturday after the Uganda Virus
Research Institute identified the disease as the Sudan strain of Ebola
hemorrhagic fever.
The Ebola virus was first
detected in 1976 in the central African nation of Zaire (now the Democratic
Republic of the Congo). The virus is named after a river in that country. There
are five strains of Ebola viruses, all named after the areas where they were
found: Zaire, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, Bundibugyo and Reston, according to the WHO.
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