In what ought to be a cause for concern for Kenya, the World Health Organization has confirmed a case of Ebola in Uganda.
A five-year-old boy has been diagnosed with Ebola in Uganda and the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed.
Ebola has in the last few years caused a health crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has seen over 2000 people infected with the virus which has claimed the lives of the majority of those.
The five-year-old boy is said to have traveled across the border with his family from DR Congo on Sunday, 9th June 2019 and is the first case confirmed in the country.
The young patient exhibited symptoms such as vomiting blood by the time his parents took him to the Uganda health facility. The diagnosis was confirmed by the Uganda Virus Institute (UVRI) on 11th June 2019 and was later announced by officials.
“The boy’s family is being monitored closely including two other people who have exhibited Ebola-like symptoms,” Uganda’s Health Minister, Jane Ruth Aceng said in a news conference on 11th June adding that they had dispatched a rapid response team to identify others at risk.
In a joint statement, Uganda’s ministry of health noted that they had already vaccinated 4,700 health officials.
Congo’s current Ebola outbreak is considered to be the second biggest with fear of the virus spilling over to neighboring countries.
An estimated 1,400 people have died of Ebola since August 2018. The previous outbreak occurred in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 and killed 11,310 people.
Kenya, being a close neighbor to Uganda is expected to take cautionary measures to ensure the virus does not spill to the Country. Leaders and officials in the Ministry of Health in Kenya are however yet to comment on the matter.