Nine-year-old girl from Congo dies after contracting Ebola virus
A nine-year-old girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo who tested positive for Ebola in neighbouring Uganda has died.
Dr Eddy Kasenda, an Ebola representative in the Congolese border town of Kasindi, said the victim, who has not been named, will be repatriated to Congo.
A Ugandan official, stationed at the hospital where the girl had been in isolation, confirmed her death overnight on Thursday.
The girl was identified at a border screening on Wednesday as a possible Ebola patient and isolated.
The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health Uganda, Dr. Diana Atwine, posted a message on Twitter saying the girl and her mother would be sent back to the DRC.
She wrote: "Our team at Bwera Ebola Treatment Unit in Kasese is managing an imported Ebola case. The girl is currently isolated and being prepared for repatriation back to DRC for treatment upon request of the DRC gov't."
Ugandan authorities believe the child did not have contact with any other Ugandan national.
Read more:
Doctor who discovered Ebola praises decision to declare emergency
Ebola outbreak in east Congo's main city tests flexibility of response
Ebola: Nurse Pauline Cafferkey who beat disease gives birth
However, cross-border contamination between DR Congo and Uganda has been rare.
The Ebola virus has killed around 2,000 people in eastern DR Congo since August 2018.
More than 11,000 people died as the disease took hold across the African nations between 2013 – when the outbreak was thought to have started in Guinea – and 2016, with a handful of cases treated in the UK.
But the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a fresh Ebola epidemic in the DR Congo in May of this year.
It is Congo's 10th Ebola outbreak, according to America's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa was declared deadlier.