Ebola caseload rises to 16 as outbreak spreads in Uganda

The Ugandan health ministry announced that its Ebola caseload had jumped to 16 people while a further 18 people also likely had the disease.

Rising infection rate has triggered fears of a spreading outbreak that involves a strain for which a vaccine has not yet been found.

The ministry of health stated in a tweet that the confirmed death toll remained four, while 17 others classified as probable cases also died. The outbreak had now reached three districts in central Uganda.

Uganda last week announced the outbreak of Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever whose symptoms include intense body weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea and rashes among others.

According to authorities, the latest outbreak is caused by the Ebola Sudan strain and appears to have started in a small village in Mubende district around the beginning of September.

The first casualty was a 24-year old man who died earlier this week.

The World Health Organization says the Ebola Sudan strain is less transmissible and has a lower fatality rate in previous outbreaks than Ebola Zaire.

The worst epidemic was recorded in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 where more than 11,300 people were killed.