A Tanzanian doctor who worked in Uganda contracted Ebola has died.Uganda’s health minister said on Saturday he was the first health worker to die from the disease in the country’s latest outbreak.
“We regret to announce the passing of our first doctor, Dr. Muhammad Ali of Tanzanian nationality,” Health Minister Jane Ruth Achen tweeted.
She said Ali tested positive for Ebola on September 26 and died while being treated at a hospital in Fort Portal, a town about 300 kilometers west of the capital Kampala.
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Authorities in the East African country announced a deadly hemorrhagic fever outbreak on September 20, raising fears of a serious health crisis in the country of 45 million people.
There is no vaccine for the Sudanese strain of disease behind the recent Ugandan infection.
Prior to Ali’s death, the health ministry said Friday that the disease had so far infected 35 people and killed seven.
Ali was one of six medical workers who contracted the disease, including a doctor, an anesthesiologist, and a medical student.
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Ebola is spread primarily through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person. Viral illnesses have symptoms such as severe weakness, muscle pain, headaches, sore throats, vomiting, diarrhea and rashes.