ALARMING

First Case of Ebola Confirmed in Uganda, as World’s Second Largest Ebola Outbreak Spreads

The year-long epidemic had been concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo up until now.

A case of Ebola has been confirmed in a 5-year-old boy in western Uganda, marking the first instance of the disease spreading outside of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the year-long epidemic. The 5-year-old Congolese boy reportedly brought the disease to western Uganda after crossing the border to seek medical treatment, The Washington Post reports. After arriving at a rural Ugandan hospital with his family on Sunday, the boy was put in isolated care.

Ugandan health workers have been hyper-aware of a potential spread of the outbreak, which is now the second-largest outbreak in history, according to the World Health Organization. At least 2,000 people have been infected in Congo, and about 1,400 have died. Uganda has been prepping by vaccinating nearly 4,700 health workers, as well as training workers to spot Ebola symptoms and safely transfer potential victims. Up until this week, the outbreak had been primarily isolated to Congo's North Kivu province.