One person has died of the disease Marburg in the Ugandan capital and another 99 people who had contact with the victim are under surveillance, according to health authorities.
Marburg, like Ebola, is a hemorrhagic fever causing severe bleeding, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea.
The first victim was a 30-year old hospital technician who died of the virus in Kampala on 28 September, according to the Ugandan health ministry.
His symptoms included headache, abdominal pain, vomiting blood and diarrhea.
The Uganda Virus Research Institute confirmed by testing samples that the man had the Marburg virus.
Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, director general for health services in Uganda, said in an update on Tuesday that all the 99 other people who had contact with the first victim are “still in a healthy condition.”
They are reportedly in quarantine.
Uganda has been hit by several outbreaks of Marburg and Ebola in the past, but it has contained the outbreaks quickly, limiting fatalities.
Reuters reported Sunday that the worst occurrence of hemorrhagic fever occurred in 2000, when 425 people contracted Ebola and more than half of them died.
On Wednesday Ugandan press quoted the country’s president as saying that people should not longer shake hands, in order to help contain the outbreak.
“To control Ebola and Marburg, be open and say you can’t shake hands,” he said.
Photo: Health workers battling Ebola in Libera (UNICEF)