Bleeding eyes fever pandemic WARNING: Outbreak could infect DOCTORS and become next Ebola
THE lethal “bleeding eyes” disease sweeping Uganda could infect doctors and spread across the African continent in a chilling echo of the Ebola crisis, a leading disease expert has warned.
By Joshua Nevett
DailyStar.co.uk
27th January 2018
An outbreak of two strains of deadly viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) has been confirmed by the Ugandan authorities and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Four cases of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) and five cases of Rift Valley Fever (RVF), four of whom died, have been confirmed since August 2017, according to the Ugandan Health Ministry.
Earlier this month Dr Diana Atwine, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, denied there was an outbreak of the disease, caused by a tick-borne virus, and advised the public to ignore reports of cases.
But the Health Ministry was forced into an embarrassing U-turn and confirmed the outbreak after a nine-year-old girl from a village in the Nakaseke district tested positive for CCHF.
The WHO has now launched an investigation into the outbreak of the disease in partnership with the Ugandan Health Ministry, a spokesperson told Daily Star Online.
In a press conference this week, Dr Atwine reported additional cases of the serious viral infections, which can cause victims to bleed from their orifices – including eyes, mouths and anuses.
Speaking to the media alongside WHO officials, she said: “Since August 2017, when suspected cases were reported, four cases of the Crimean- Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) have been confirmed and five cases of the Rift Valley Fever (RVF).
“Unfortunately, we have lost three cases of the RVF from Kiboga, Buikwe and Mityana districts.
“The latest cases were reported on January 19.”
Dr William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, said quarantining patients is crucial to containing the virus, which becomes more infectious “with each passing day”.
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