By Vision reporter
and Agencies

A haemorrhagic disease suspected to be Ebola has killed at least 23 people and infected dozens more in Southern Sudan, the spokesman of the Southern Sudanese army (SPLA) said yesterday.

Most of the dead are SPLA soldiers. Army spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol said blood samples of soldiers had been sent to laboratories for testing but doctors suspected it was Ebola.

“So far, from the SPLA, there are 20 killed and three wives (of soldiers) also died,” Kuol told Reuters.
“There is a huge number of the population affected that we don’t have the (exact) number of.”

Kuol said symptoms included vomiting blood and bleeding from the ears and nose, adding it was widespread in the Western Bahr al-Ghazal state.

A UN official in the south said they had attempted an assessment but needed more information from the local government to be able to assess the situation.

Health officials say there is still no known cure for the disease, which is spread through bodily fluids, including blood.

The World Health Organisation says Ebola, one of the most virulent viral diseases known to mankind, was discovered in Southern Sudan and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976.

The strain of Ebola that broke out in what was then Zaire has one of the highest case fatality rates of any human virus, roughly 90%.

The strain that broke out later in Sudan has a case fatality rate of around 50%.
The virus is believed to be transmitted to humans via contact with an infected animal host.

It is then transmitted to other people that come into contact with blood and bodily fluids of the infected person, and by human contact with contaminated medical equipment such as needles.

Uganda has experienced two outbreaks of Ebola. On October 15, 2000, Ebola was confirmed in Gulu, northern Uganda. By the end of January 2001, 425 Ebola cases had been reported in Gulu, Masindi and Mbarara.

Of those, 224 died – a death rate of 53%. Among them were 14 health workers in Gulu who had worked in the isolation wards.

On November 24, 2007, the health ministry confirmed another outbreak of Ebola in Bundibugyo district. Health officials confirmed a total of 149 cases of this new Ebola species, with 37 deaths attributed to the strain.