KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) ? The deadly Ebola virus has killed 14 people in western Uganda this month, Ugandan health officials said on Saturday, ending weeks of speculation about the cause of a strange disease that had many people fleeing their homes.
The officials and a World Health Organization representative told a news conference in Kampala Saturday that there is "an outbreak of Ebola" in Uganda.
"Laboratory investigations done at the Uganda Virus Research Institute...have confirmed that the strange disease reported in Kibaale is indeed Ebola hemorrhagic fever," the Ugandan government and WHO said in joint statement.
Kibaale is a district in midwestern Uganda, where people in recent weeks have been troubled by a mysterious illness that seemed to have come from nowhere. Ugandan health officials had been stumped as well, and spent weeks conducting laboratory tests that were at first inconclusive.
On Friday, Joaquim Saweka, the WHO representative in Uganda, told The Associated Press that investigators were "not so sure" it was Ebola, and a Ugandan health official dismissed the possibility of Ebola as merely a rumor. It appears firm evidence of Ebola was clinched overnight.
Health officials told reporters in Kampala that the 14 dead were among 20 reported with the disease. Two of the infected have been isolated for examination by researchers and health officials. A clinical officer and, days later, her 4-month-old baby died from the disease caused by the Ebola virus, officials said.
Officials urged Ugandans to be calm, saying a national emergency taskforce had been set up to stop the disease from spreading far and wide.
There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, and in Uganda, where in 2000 the disease killed 224 people and left hundreds more traumatized, it resurrects terrible memories. There have been isolated cases since, such as in 2007 when an outbreak of a new strain of Ebola killed at least 37 people in Bundibugyo, a remote district close to the Congolese border, but none as deadly as in 2000.
Ebola, which manifests itself as a hemorrhagic fever, is highly infectious and kills quickly. It was first reported in 1976 in Congo and is named for the river where it was recognized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A CDC factsheet on Ebola says the disease is "characterized by fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, and weakness, followed by diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. A rash, red eyes, hiccups and internal and external bleeding may be seen in some patients."
Scientists don't know the natural reservoir of the virus, but they suspect the first victim in an Ebola outbreak gets infected through contact with an infected animal, such as a monkey.
The virus can be transmitted through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person, or objects that have been contaminated with infected secretions. During communal funerals, for example, when the bereaved come into contact with an Ebola victim, the virus can be contracted, officials said, warning against unnecessary contact with suspected cases of Ebola.
In Kibaale, some villagers had started abandoning their homes in recent weeks to escape what they thought was an illness that had something to do with bad luck, because people were quickly falling ill and dying, and there was no immediate explanation, officials said.
Officials said now that they've verified Ebola in the area they can concentrate on controlling the disease. Ebola patients were being treated at the only major hospital in Kibaale, said Stephen Byaruhanga, the district's health secretary.
"Being a strange disease, we were shocked to learn that it was Ebola," Byaruhanga said. "Our only hope is that in the past when Ebola broke out in other parts of Uganda it was controlled."
The challenge, he said, was retaining the services of all the nurses and doctors who are being asked to risk their lives in order to look after the sick.
"Their lives are at stake," he said.
Officials also worry that other villagers suffering from other diseases might be afraid to visit the hospital for fear of catching Ebola, he said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officials-ebola-breaks-uganda-123309607.html
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It?s been quite a while since homeowners have felt it?s worthwhile to put good money into their houses. Given years of declining home values, there has been little hope of getting one?s money back with major remodeling projects. A new report indicates that in the months ahead, however, owners will be picking up their hammers ? or at least hiring plenty of contractors and handymen ? in what?s expected to be a major growth period for remodeling.
A planned strike by immigration workers on the eve of the London 2012 Olympics has been called off by the Public Commercial Services union. A planned strike by the PCS union has been called off (Picture: PA) The announcement by the union?s general secretary Mark Serwotka came as the government sought an injunction against the strike at the High Court. Mr Serwortka told reporters in central London that there was ?no case? to proceed with the industrial action, over jobs cuts, after a pledge to create 1,100 new posts by the government. He said the figure included 800 jobs already advertised and 300 new posts. PCS members working for the Border Force and Identity and Passport Service were set to stage a walkout on Thursday at Heathrow and other airports on what is set to be the busiest day for arrivals ahead of the Games. Earlier culture secretary Jeremy Hunt had urged workers to break the strike and work on ?one of the biggest days in their professional [careers]?. 
Don?t let the name fool you. The Slim is more than just a trimmed-down Softail. It?s a bike that salutes the immediate post-World War II years when motorcycling redefined itself in America. It was a wild and rollicking time, too. And, despite today?s misperception that the 1947 Hollister incident served as ground zero, the real activity shaping the future of biking took place at competition events across America. Speed merchants like Tom Sifton and Chet Herbert built dazzlingly fast motorcycles for ironmen such as Joe Leonard, Ken Eggers, and Jimmy Chann for closed-course racing, and for a guy named Al Keys to ride as fast on two wheels as possible.
The difference, of course, is the Slim was developed to win customers, not races, so Ketterhagen?s crew paid close attention to what components found their way on ? and in some instances, off ? the bike. Most obvious features are the bobbed fenders, and the rear lighting utilizes lessons originally applied to the Nightster, including the iconic side-mount license plate assembly. The rear tire is slimmer, too, the Dunlop listed as a MT90B-16?, which makes this the narrowest 16? tire found on a Softail.
But the half-moon floorboards ? another bobber-era feature ? position your feet well for long rides, and the reach to the Hollywood bar places you in a comfortable riding position as well (an optional 2? pullback riser can be installed without having to change control cables ? nice touch). You practically feel like you?re sitting in the Slim, not on it, and you can only imagine what guys like Leonard, Eggers, and Chann must have been thinking about when they rolled their bikes to the starting lines so many years ago (although by the time Leonard won his first AMA Grand National Championship in 1954 he was riding race-bred KR models).