Bundibugyo /Kampala — Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo District has paralysed businesses and social activities in the larger part of western Uganda.

Bundibugyo RDC Samuel Kazinga said many residents in Kasese, Bundibugyo and Kabarole have confined themselves at home for fear of catching the disease, "The district has not yet been officially quarantined but it has happened naturally because locals here and in neighbouring districts are no longer moving from their localities. Businesses are paralysed and we are worried for what will come next," he said on telephone on Friday.

This follows confirmatory laboratory tests which showed that the strange viral disease that has been battering the district since August is Ebola haemorrhagic fever, a deadly plague for which there is no cure. Sixteen people have so far been reported dead and 51 others infected, according to the Health ministry.

However, unofficial reports put the number of the dead at 30.

By Thursday evening, at least 14 villages had been affected. These include, Kabango, Ntandi , Butolya, Kikyo, Kizufo, and Bugharama. Others are Butantagua , Bulhambago, Bundimwali I, Buyaya, Bugharama II and Bulhambaghiri.The government yesterday dispatched a response team of medical experts in the district to trace contacts of the deadly Ebola patients.

"Part of the response team from Kampala is already here and Iam heading it to ensure that we arrest the situation," said Dr. William Sikyewunda , the district director of health services for Bundibugyo.

Dr. Sikyewunda said Kikyo Health Centre IV in Kasitu Sub-county on the foothills of Mount Rwenzori has been declared the Ebola treatment centre. He said seven new cases had been recorded at the centre.

In Kabarole, a scare was sparked off by the death of unidentified man who is reported to have left Bundibugyo on Wednesday.

The common symptoms of Ebola, which causes death in 70 to 90 per cent of all clinically ill cases, include very high fever, diarrhea, vomiting associated with red eyes and a measles-like rash.

Health officials issued a countrywide Ebola alert and urged the public to be vigilant and promptly report any suspected cases to the nearest health facility or call on phone hotlines 0772507799, 0772409810.

Ebola last struck Uganda in the northern district of Gulu in October 2000 and killed 224 people, including Dr Mathew Lukwiya, the then medical superintendent of Lacor Hospital.