Ebola effort hit by supplies shortage

Upto 10 new cases of Ebola are reported on a daily basis

Health officials in the Ebola-hit Gulu district of Uganda, have run out of sterile surgical masks to protect themselves from the deadly virus.

Officials say 39 people have been killed by the virus since 17 September.

But many fear there may be more cases in outlying areas, where illiteracy is high and knowledge of the outbreak is low.

The virus, discovered nearly 24 years ago, causes a haemorrhagic fever which causes its victim to bleed to death.

International aid begun to arrive in Uganda on Tuesday to help combat the country's first Ebola epidemic.

But health staff are still having to make do with simple masks and latex gloves brought in by the army, for nearly 100 health workers and Red Cross volunteers who are expected to scour the district in search of more victims.

Making do

The local health workers have had to use masks made from plain cloth and sewn by local seamstresses.

Health workers have confined anybody showing symptoms of the virus

"This is all we have. It will have to do," Okat Lokach, the district health officer, said to his assistants.

"It's better than nothing, right?".

The workers and volunteers have been taking crash courses in how to contain the epidemic, which began around the town of Gulu.

"We are adding about 10 cases every 24 hours. It is still spreading until we can get people into the field and identify all of those infected," said Dr Nestor Ndayimirije, a World Health Organisation epidemiologist.

There is no blood test for Ebola, and the only laboratory on the continent that has the equipment to confirm a case of infection is in South Africa.

The Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control has sent a team of five to establish a temporary diagnostic laboratory.

Agony

Health workers have been quarantining anyone complaining of flu-like symptoms, diarrhea or vomiting.

Three districts quarantined to curb the spread of Ebola

Schools in the area have been closed and ritual cleansing at funerals banned in an attempt to stop the spread of the killer virus.

New cases have now been reported in the neighbouring district of Kitgum and also in the crowded Atiak and Amoru refugee camps.

Among the dead are eight members of one family in Gulu.

Beatrice Achieng told Reuters news agency how she watched as her family died in agony from the virus.

It started in early September when her aunt, Ester Awete, complained of a fever attack.

Five visits to the hospital in Gulu proved futile.

"She was bleeding. She had diarrhoea, headache and a fever. In a few days, she died," Ms Achieng said.