Uganda health worker dies of Ebola, raising toll to 10

Uganda confirmed the death of a health worker from Ebola, bringing the total number of fatalities from the highly contagious virus to 10.

The latest death comes two weeks after the government declared an outbreak.

Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero said that a 58-year-old anaesthetic officer had died of Ebola.

"The late Margaret is the fourth health worker we have lost in the current Ebola outbreak," the minister said on Twitter, following the deaths of a Tanzanian doctor, a health assistant and a midwife.

According to the health ministry's, the total number of cases identified in the East African nation stood at 43.

Since the initial outbreak was discovered in the central district of Mubende, infections have been found in Kassanda, Kyegegwa and Kagadi.

Ebola is an often-fatal viral haemorrhagic fever named after a river in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where it was discovered in 1976.

Human transmission is through bodily fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea.

Outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments.

People who are infected do not become contagious until symptoms appear, which is after an incubation period of between two and 21 days.

There is currently no licensed medication to prevent or treat Ebola, although a range of experimental drugs are in development.

Uganda, which shares a porous border with the DRC, has experienced several Ebola outbreaks, most recently in 2019 when at least five people died.