KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda said on Friday it had successfully contained an outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever announced by officials on Oct. 19, which killed three people.
Junior health minister Sarah Achieng Opendi told a news conference in the capital Kampala that all suspected persons tracked after the third death had completed 21 days of monitoring without showing any symptoms.
An extra 21 days of surveillance were observed as recommended by the World Health Organisation.
"We have completed 42 days since the death of the last confirmed case," she said.
"The ministry of health is pleased to officially declare the country free from the Marbug viral disease."
The outbreak had occurred in the country's eastern region and the first victim was a hunter who prowled an area with bat-infested caves.
The African fruit bat is the reservoir host of the Marburg virusL, a cousin of the more lethal Ebola, although infected bats do not show obvious signs of the disease.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
