Two Ugandan doctors who had been helping in the fight against an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus have died, bringing the death toll to 21, officials said on 5 December, according to IRINnews.
The doctor who died at Mulago had come from Bundibugyo to the city to collect one of his children, only to fall sick, and had been put in an isolation ward at the hospital, the largest in the country.
MANGLER UDSTYR
Some health officials have said a lack of appropriate equipment in Mulago and other hospitals allowed the virus to spread, but the government announced on 4 December that it had sent 400 packages of protective gear to the affected region to help ensure medical workers were adequately protected.
SPECIALISTER PÅ STEDET
Eight pathogen specialists from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control arrived in Uganda on 4 December to help battle the disease that has infected at least 64 people.
Efforts to isolate suspected patients in Bundibugyo, a rural district neighbouring the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), have failed as many residents fear hospitals are unsafe, authorities have said.
The rare disease, named after a small DRC river, killed at least 170 people in northern Uganda in 2000, with specialists blaming poor sanitation and hygiene.
It was first discovered in the DRC in 1976, but other outbreaks have been recorded in Ivory Coast and Gabon.
