The Latest: 5-year-old with Ebola dies in 1st Uganda case
KASINDI, Congo (AP) — The Latest on the Ebola outbreak in Africa (all times local):
6:15 p.m.
The World Health Organization says an expert committee will meet on Friday to discuss whether to declare the Ebola outbreak a global health emergency.
This is the third time the committee is meeting on the current Ebola outbreak, which has killed nearly 1,400 people since it was declared in August.
The WHO announcement comes a day after the first cross-border case in this outbreak was confirmed.
A 5-year-old boy who crossed from Congo into Uganda earlier this week has since died. Two relatives in Uganda also have the highly contagious virus.
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4:50 p.m.
Rwanda’s government says it is tightening border surveillance after the deadly Ebola outbreak crossed the frontier from eastern Congo into Uganda. Rwanda borders both countries.
The state-backed newspaper The New Times cites Rwanda’s health ministry in urging people not to travel to areas affected by the Ebola outbreak.
The World Health Organization has advised against travel restrictions.
Rwanda earlier this year announced it would give front-line health workers an experimental but effective Ebola vaccine as concerns rose about cross-border spread of the highly contagious virus.
Nearly 1,400 people have died in this outbreak, including a 5-year-old boy in Uganda.
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2:10 p.m.
The World Health Organization says an expert committee has been alerted for a possible meeting to discuss whether to declare the Ebola outbreak a global health emergency.
A WHO spokesman says the director general might convene a third meeting after two previous ones decided this Congo-based outbreak was not yet fit for a declaration.
Now the deadly virus has crossed into Uganda, where three cases including one death have been confirmed.
Nearly 1,400 people have died since this outbreak was declared in August.
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1:25 p.m.
The World Health Organization says two more cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Uganda after the first was announced late Tuesday in the East African country.
The two new cases are believed to be family members of the 5-year-old boy who entered Uganda from eastern Congo earlier this week and has since died.
Family members, including the boy’s mother, have been isolated at a hospital near the Congo border.
These are the first Ebola cases outside Congo since the outbreak began in August. Nearly 1,400 people have died.
Authorities are trying to determine how the family, exposed to the virus, managed to cross the border.
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1:10 p.m.
The World Health Organization says the 5-year-old boy who became the first cross-border case in the current Ebola outbreak has died.
The boy’s death was confirmed the day after WHO announced the first Ebola case outside eastern Congo since the outbreak began in August. Nearly 1,400 people have died.
Authorities are trying to determine how the boy’s family, exposed to the virus, managed to cross into Uganda. His relatives are isolated at a hospital there.
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10:30 a.m.
A 5-year-old boy vomiting blood has become the first cross-border case of Ebola in the current deadly outbreak. Now authorities in Congo are trying to determine how his family, exposed to the virus, managed to cross into neighboring Uganda.
The World Health Organization late Tuesday confirmed the first Ebola case outside Congo since the outbreak began in August. Nearly 1,400 people have died.
Congo’s health ministry says a dozen members of the boy’s family had showed symptoms of Ebola and were put in isolation.
But six managed to leave while awaiting transfer to an Ebola treatment center. Authorities say they entered Uganda, where the boy is receiving treatment and relatives are isolated.
Experts have long feared Ebola could spread to neighboring countries because of unrest hampering response work in Congo.
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