A child in Uganda has died of Ebola, in the first cross-border case of the virus since an outbreak began in neighboring Congo a year ago.
The Uganda office of the World Health Organization, quoting Uganda’s health minister, reported the death of the five-year-old boy Wednesday.
Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said earlier that the child had been taken to Kagando hospital in western Uganda after he and several family members crossed over from the DRC on Monday.
Aceng said Uganda has confirmed three cases of Ebola in all. She urged Ugandans to cooperate with health officials to prevent the often-deadly virus from spreading to other parts of the country.
The WHO and its partners have struggled to contain the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, sometimes facing resistance from locals who did not trust health workers.
The WHO says the virus has killed nearly 1,400 people in the region since August of last year.