Emerging Disease News: Ugandans Slap Quarantine on Ebola Virus Areas. A new outbreak over the last two weeks has killed 43, the WHO says. Ugandan authorities threaten those breaking the quarantine with death. The Ebola virus,

which first emerged in what was then Zaire in 1996, is a

hemorrhagic virus that causes patients to bleed to death

through every orifice — including the eyes and ears.

There is no vaccine and no known cure. It is spread through

contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids and can kill

within 48 hours.

One doctor said the symptoms were “like watching someone

dissolve before your eyes.”

Medical staff in Gulu Monday were clearly overwhelmed, but

even with the best treatment in the world, Ebola is usually

fatal. Some 793 people have died out of 1,100 cases recognized

by the WHO since 1996. Reuters