11:30 AM
GULU, Uganda - An international team of health experts have arrived in northern Uganda to help contain an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus which has already killed 39 people.
A three-man team from the World Health Organisation flew into the town of Gulu where the outbreak is concentrated, bringing with them much-needed supplies of protective clothing, including gumboots, gowns and gloves, and boxes of disinfectant.
"We are coming to support the government effort in Gulu," team leader Dr Guenael Rodier told Reuters shortly after landing at Gulu airstrip.
He said the team would train local medical staff in dealing with the haemorrhagic virus which causes patients to bleed from every orifice, including the eyes and ears. It has no known cure.
Up to now, doctors and nurses have struggled on despite inadequate protection from the virus which is spread easily through contact with an infected person's body fluids. Three nurses have already died.
Despite the virulence of Ebola - which can kill within 48 hours - Rodier, the director of the WHO's department of communicable diseases, said he was optimistic its spread could be checked.
"This disease is containable using very simple means," he said.
But local health workers said they were expecting to discover more cases in the next few days as medical teams reach remote villages in the Gulu area.
Dr Matthew Lukwiya, medical superintendent at St. Mary's Hospital near Gulu, said some people may have fallen sick without knowing about Ebola, and may not seek medical help unless they are sought out by health workers.
"We still don't know what is going on in the countryside because information filters in so slowly," Lukwiya said. "But people are going to become more aware and I think we can expect many more cases in the next few days."
The Gulu area has been quarantined and the local radio broadcasts regular warnings telling people to stay in their homes, not to touch or shake hands and not to share cups and plates.
But many in rural areas may still not be aware of the outbreak, and may not have yet taken measures to prevent infection, Lukwiya said.
Others are ignoring the advice and bus services from Gulu to the capital Kampala, some 270 km to the south, are still running.
Newspapers reported that one man had died of Ebola and five others were hospitalised in Soroti district, southeast of Gulu.
Two other suspected Ebola patients had been admitted to hospital in neighbouring Lira, the Monitor newspaper reported.
Another medical team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta with expertise in detecting and controlling the Ebola virus was expected to arrive on Thursday.
The team will be able to test for the disease and get a result in a matter of hours. Up to now, blood samples have been sent to South Africa for testing.
- REUTERS
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Experts arrive in Uganda to fight Ebola
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