14 people have died in a Ugandan outbreak of the Ebola virus, and the World Health Organization is saying 36 cases have been reported. Health officials are in Uganda, attempting to contain the outbreak and care for those infected with the disease, which can have anywhere from a 25% to 90% fatality rate. However, one Ugandan prisoner—suspected of being infected—has escaped confinement and is currently at large, which has Dr. Jackson Amune, commissioner at the Ministry of Health, concerned. “Should his results come back and he is positive, that causes us a lot of worry. So right now, we have resolved that the remaining prisoners will be cuffed on the beds for fear that they might also escape.” Little is known of the Ebola virus, which was first discovered in the now-Democratic Republic of the Congo back in 1976, but it causes severe hemorrhagic fever and, researchers suspect, is easily communicated through close bodily contact with the infected. At present, WHO thinks it is unlikely that the outbreak will spread very far past Ugandan boarders …
