Uganda declared Marburg free
State Health Minister Sarah Opendi
Uganda has officially been declared free of the Marburg epidemic.
The announcement has been made by the State health minister Sarah Opendi during a news conference at the Uganda Media Center.
Opendi said that the Marburg outbreak in the country has been completely controlled.
The epidemic was declared on 4th October 2014 after a patient died of the disease at Mengo hospital in Kampala.
A total of 997 people have since been followed, tested and discharged from the isolation centers.
The disease that claimed a life in September is caused by a virus and is spread through direct contact with wounds, body fluids like blood, saliva, vomitus, stool and urine from an infected person.
A person suffering from Marburg presents with sudden onset of high fever with a headache, vomiting blood, joint and muscle pains and bleeding through the body openings
