Two Ebola Cases Reported In Ugandan Capital

The outbreak began three weeks ago in the Kibale district in the west of the country, where 13 people have died.

Now there have been two confirmed cases in the capital, Kampala. One of those infected - a health worker from Kibale who travelled to the city - has died.

"The Ministry of Health are tracing all the people who have had contact with the victims," President Yoweri Museveni said in a state broadcast.

"Ebola spreads by contact when you contact each other physically … avoid shaking of hands, because that can cause contact through sweat, which can cause problems.

"Do not take on burying somebody who has died from symptoms that look like Ebola - instead call health workers because they know how to do it ... avoid promiscuity because this sickness can also go through sex," he added.

Seven doctors and 13 health workers at the capital's Mulago Hospital are now in quarantine.

World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman Tarik Jasarevic pointed out that neither of the two Kampala infections had been contracted in the city.

Ebola is characterised by the sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, often followed by vomiting, diarrhoea and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

It spreads by direct contact with the blood or other body fluids of infected persons, and has a fatality rate of between 23% and 90% according to the WHO.

Museveni said that the virus had not been immediately identified this time, resulting in a delay.

"The bleeding which normally accompanies Ebola did not take place initially among these patients," he said, adding that health workers at first did not therefore realise what the problem was. Because of that delay the sickness spread."

Health officials said that the source of the outbreak had yet to be confirmed but that the villages affected were located close to forests famous for several species of primates.