On 13 Oct 2000, it was reported that at least 30 people in this northern Uganda town have died in recent weeks of a hemorrhagic fever that authorities fear may be caused by the Ebola or Marburg virus.

Blood samples from victims of the outbreak, which has produced tell-tale bleeding from every orifice in many patients here, are being flown to high-security laboratories in South Africa and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Investigators who rushed here this week said tests may identify the fever's cause by early next week.

They said several elements of the outbreak, including the infection of medical personnel, suggest involvement of a member of the family Filoviridae, the family of viruses that includes the Ebola and Marburg viruses.

A total of 3 of the 10 people who died of the virus since 30 Sep 2000 in one Gulu hospital were nursing students who probably cared for infected patients.

Ugandan health officials said at least 20 others have perished with similar symptoms at a second hospital or at home.

In one cluster of huts not far from the center of town, 8 people have died since 20 Sep 2000.

Officials from the Uganda Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization told residents to avoid direct contact with the sick and to rush them to local hospitals where doctors have tried to establish isolation wards.

Ebola and Marburg are the most lethal of the hemorrhagic fever viruses that have emerged in recent decades, notably in Africa.

Ebola virus was first identified in 1976 in the Congo and Sudan, both of which border Uganda, and has since flared up at several other sites.

The first sustained outbreak of either virus continues in northeast Congo, where local men working an abandoned gold mine have suffered a steady stream of Marburg virus infections since mid-1998.

An outbreak of a mystery disease is centered on the northern town of Gulu.

About 30 people have died from an as-yet unidentified disease in northern Uganda.

Health experts, including officials from the World Health Organisation left for Uganda's northern Gulu District on Fri 13 Oct 2000 to investigate the outbreak.

The Ugandan Ministry of Health said on Thursday that 42 cases of the disease have been reported.

Symptoms include fever, muscle pains and bleeding from the mouth, nose and anus.

Those symptoms have led doctors to suspect that the disease is a hemorrhagic fever, of which the best known are Marburg and Ebola.

The first death occurred on 17 Sep 2000.

The victim was reportedly a soldier who had recently served in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

An agency (AFP) report states that many other victims have lived near the army barracks.

Blood samples have been sent to South Africa and the United States for testing in an effort to identify the disease.

The outbreak of hemorrhagic fever is centered on the northern town of Gulu.

Ugandan health authorities are battling to contain an outbreak suspected to be caused by the deadly Ebola virus which has killed at least 31 people in the north of the country.

The highly contagious disease, which broke out in the district of Gulu, causes its victims to bleed to death.

A further 57 people are known to have contracted the disease but doctors fear that many in remoter villages may have died before they could get medical help.

Efforts to tackle the outbreak have been hampered by the lack of adequate medical facilities, and the effects of a rebel activity in the region.

The government and the World Health Organization have sent fact-finding missions to Gulu to investigate the outbreak, but so far have given little practical help.

Symptoms of the mystery illness include fever, muscle pains and bleeding from the mouth, nose and anus.

This is the first recorded suspected Ebola outbreak in Uganda and medical officials say they do not yet know how the disease reached Gulu.

But there has been intense speculation in the local press that the virus could have been passed by Ugandan soldiers who have recently returned from postings in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

One of the first victims, who died on 17 Sep 2000, was reported to be a soldier who had recently returned from such a posting.

Days later, a woman bled to death after giving birth in a hospital in Gulu.

During the following weeks, 7 of her family and friends who attended her burial service were also dead.

Doctors believe they could have contracted the disease after washing their hands in the same water at her funeral.

So far 10 people have died in hospital, including 3 nurses treating the sick.

The other victims have succumbed in their villages before they could get to medical help.

New arrivals continue to arrive at Gulu's 2 hospitals with 5 more people admitted on Saturday alone.

Hospital staff are struggling to deal with the outbreak, but lack basic necessities like adequate protective clothing.

The situation is made worse by the fact that Gulu is at the heart of a 12-year insurgency by rebels based in neighboring Sudan.