Ebola death toll rises to 51 as experts identify more cases

KAMPALA, Uganda - The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in northern Uganda has risen to 51, an official said Saturday as health workers continued to search for anyone who may have come into contact with the highly contagious and deadly virus.

The virus, which can lead to hemorrhagic fever for which there is no known cure, has infected as many as 88 others, said Dr. Sam Zaramba of Uganda's national health service.

''The epidemic has not been controlled at this stage, but we hope that in the next week it should have reached a peak and hopefully stabilize with a few cases,'' Zaramba told reporters in Kampala.

The number of identified cases of Ebola infection was expected to rise, he said, as the health teams spread out through the villages in the area around Gulu, 225 miles north of Kampala.

Experts from the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Doctors without Borders are in Gulu helping Ugandan authorities attempt to contain the disease.

On Friday, WHO appealed for $848,000 to help the Ugandan government, while the U.N. World Food Program is delivering food to hospitals treating victims.

Traditionally, relatives help care for patients and feed them, but the practice cannot be permitted for fear it will spread the disease.

The outbreak of Ebola was officially confirmed Oct. 14.

When the first victims died in Gulu, they were given traditional burial rites, including washing of the body followed by washing of hands in a communal basin as a sign of unity. That turned many of the mourners into subsequent victims.

Ebola can take up to two weeks to incubate in a new victim, and during this period, the patient is not contagious. But once the first flu-like symptoms develop, the patient can transmit the virus through contact with bodily fluids, such as mucus, saliva and blood.

In later stages, the victim begins bleeding internally, vomiting blood and producing bloody diarrhea and eventually bleeding from all orifices. At this point, and for a short time after death, the patient is most contagious.

Ebola Sudan, one of three viral strains that can infect humans, has been identified as responsible for the outbreak in the Gulu area.

The strain was last detected near the Ebola River in Sudan in 1979, creating suspicions that it may have been brought to the district inadvertently by Ugandan rebels, who have bases in southern Sudan.

For 13 years, Lord's Resistance Army rebels have been staging raids in northern Uganda, particularly around Gulu, home to a large military base, to show that the government cannot protect its people and to capture youngsters for use as soldiers and sex slaves.