New ebola deaths in Uganda

Another three people have died of the deadly ebola virus in Uganda, marking a further spread of the disease since it first broke out in September.

Officials say the disease was brought to the northern Masindi district by a woman who had travelled from the northern district of Gulu, which is at the centre of the outbreak.

The woman was given a traditonal burial, which involved her relatives washing the corpse.

This is one of the principle modes of transmission for ebola.

The woman's daughter and a relative then fell sick, but the authorities only realized it was ebola when her husband was admitted to hospital, where he died over the weekend.

The authorities have sent experts to Masindi to try to stop the disease from spreading. The Ugandan authorities say the latest deaths bring the overall total of dead to one-hundred-and-nine.

Another two-hundred cases are being treated.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service