KAMPALA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's ministry of health on Tuesday said there is no Ebola outbreak in the east African country after blood samples from a Congolese woman who crossed into the country tested negative.
The ministry in a statement issued here said that samples taken from the 48-year-old woman who presented with bleeding at Bwera Hospital in the border district of Kasese, turned negative of all the viral hemorrhagic fever including Ebola.
The statement said over the last two months the ministry has investigated and tested over 220 samples collected from suspected and alert cases.
"All these tested negative of any Ebola strains, Marburg or Sosuga virus," the statement said.
The ministry noted that since the outbreak was announced in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Aug. 1, it has been on high alert.
The statement said that the ministry of health with support from partners are supporting districts bordering DRC to heighten preparedness and readiness to handle any Ebola case that might come into the country.
All people crossing into Uganda from DRC are screened for signs and symptoms of Ebola.
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding.
Mortality rates of Ebola fever, according to the World Health Organization, are extremely high, with the human case-fatality rate ranging from 50 percent to 89 percent, depending on viral sub-type.
