Ugandan officials face #Ebola outbreak

updated 3:48 PM EDT, Sun July 29, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Patients did not show some typical symptoms, the health minister says
• The lethal Ebola virus left at least 14 people dead in western Uganda this month
• The cases have emerged in Kibaale, a district in midwestern Uganda
• The Ebola virus is considered a highly infectious disease spread through direct contact

(CNN) -- Ugandan authorities did not initially detect an Ebola outbreak because patients weren't showing typical symptoms of the lethal virus, the nation's health minister told CNN Sunday.

Patients had fevers and were vomiting, but did not show other typical symptoms like hemorrhaging, Health Minister Dr. Christine Ondoa said.

....

Officials are trying to determine the extent of the outbreak, CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said Sunday.

About five people from the Atlanta-based centers were expected to join a group of CDC staffers who are permanently based in Uganda, Skinner said.

"These outbreaks have a tendency to sort of stamp themselves out, if you will, if we can get in and sort of stop the chain of transmission," he said.

Ondoa described the Ebola-Sudan strain detected as "mild" compared to other types of Ebola, noting that victims' lives can be saved with intervention....

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/29/world/africa/uganda-ebola-virus/index.html