A child in Uganda tested positive for Ebola, in the first case outside the Congo since the outbreak began last year, the Ugandan Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
The under child and their families have been isolated in the hospital in the western district near the border of Congo, said Health Minister Uganda, Jane Aceng.
The announcement puts more pressure on the World Health Organization to declare the Ebola outbreak as a global health emergency.
The outbreak is occurring in the midst of rebel attacks and community resistance unprecedented in a region where Ebola had never been before.
In April, a WHO expert commission decided that while the outbreak was a “major concern”, it was not yet a global health emergency. But international contagion is one of the main criteria that the UN considers before making such a declaration.
Uganda has been determined precisely when the child entered Uganda. A WHO statement said he entered with his family on Sunday at the Bwera border crossing. He sought medical attention in a hospital and was transferred to the Ebola treatment unit in Bwera, the WHO said.
The confirmation of the case was made by the Uganda Virus Institute.
“The Ministry of Health and the WHO sent a rapid response team to Kasese to identify other people who might be in danger,” the WHO said.
The Congolese Health Ministry, however, said in a separate statement that the boy, from Mabalako, arrived at the Kasindi border crossing in from Congo on Monday.
