Ebola outbreak traced to woman
2000-10-19 10:31
Kabede, Uganda - Esther Awete's body was found
one morning six weeks ago in her round, gray mud hut by her
mother and three sisters. She had come down with a fever
five days earlier and had died in the night.
Keeping with local custom, her body was kept in her hut
for two days to allow friends and family to take part in
the funeral.
Awete's family and closest friends ritually
bathed her body, buried her less than 30 feet from where
she died and then washed their hands in a communal basin as
a sign of unity.
What they did not know, was that Awete's body had become a
time bomb carrying the deadly Ebola virus. That was on
27 September, and now seven other members of her family are
dead and the virus has spread in a 25km
radius killing 39 people and possibly infecting 55 others.
Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids and can be
passed by a simple handshake with someone who has developed
the symptoms, which include a fever, headache and diarrhoea.
Between 10 and 15 days after infection with this rare form
of haemorrhagic fever, the victim usually dies from massive
blood loss through all the body's orifices.
How Awete - so far the first person known to have
contracted the disease in Uganda - came into contact with
the Ebola virus is a mystery. In fact, researchers have no
idea where Ebola resides in-between outbreaks, which are
often years and hundreds of kilometres apart.
Awete had two children, one of which died within days of
her funeral from the disease. Until she died, Awete lived
with her mother and sisters in a small compound of six
thatched huts and a dilapidated house surrounded by banana
trees and rows of corn.
Her husband rarely came to see her. She made her living
selling home-brewed cassava beer and the corn which she
ground by hand inside her 5m wide,
windowless hut.
Kabede Opong is only 5km from
Gulu town, home to 150 000 people, 360km north of the capital Kampala.
The people do not eat wild animals, a possible source of
past outbreaks, and she did nothing unusual before she
died, except for a trip to another village to get cassava
leaves for brewing.
At first, neighbours thought Awete died of dysentery,
cholera or any of a number of illnesses common to the area.
"People had fears after the second victim," said Justin
Okot, a police officer who lived in the compound next to
Awete. "It was after the eighth victim, that's when we
suspected this is a new disease."
Okot and his wife, lifelong friends of Awete, took part in
the funeral at the Awete compound. Okot's boss told him not
to come to work for at least 12 days, and then get a doctor
to certify that he is healthy. While he has no symptoms,
his wife has not been so lucky.
"My wife was admitted yesterday to the hospital," Okot
said, his voice trembling as he tried to hold back tears.
He feels certain it is Ebola.
More help arrived on Wednesday for Okot and the others who
have been infected, or fear being infected. A team from the
World Health Organisation brought boxes of protective
garments, gloves and a washing machine, as well as the
expertise needed to fight Ebola.
"Containment of the outbreak should not be a problem,"
said Dr Guenael Rodier, a senior WHO official and veteran
of a half-dozen Ebola outbreaks in West Africa.
"Simple
measures will avoid the spread of the disease from person
to person and that is what we are going to work on."
He said investigators from the US-based Centre for
Disease Control would soon arrive with
equipment to identify who has been infected with Ebola.
In recent days, anyone with the early symptoms of Ebola
has been quarantined and counted as potential victims.
Rumours have spread of cases in other districts of Uganda,
which could either signify a dramatic spread of the disease
or just panic.
"There are many rumours that need to be checked," said
Rodier. "[But] it is clear that if you have no contact
with Gulu, then you are unlikely to have Ebola."
Professor Francis Omaswa, director general of Uganda's
medical services, said unconfirmed reports that two people
had died of the disease in neighbouring Kitgum, were false
and the virus was being contained in Gulu district.
However, a medical team was dispatched to investigate a
suspected outbreak in Lira district, southeast of Gulu,
said Paul Kaggwa, spokesperson for the ministry of health.
On Wednesday, Tanzania joined Kenya in introducing medical
screening at its border points with Uganda.
- AP