UGANDA: OUT OF THE WILD

Story Synopsis

In the lush mountains of western Uganda, tourists come to the dense forests in search of rare and exotic animals. What they don’t anticipate is coming in contact with some of the world’s rarest diseases.

That’s what recently happened to an American tourist who came down with a mysterious and deadly disease after visiting a cave known for its bats.

“We’re still not exactly sure how she acquired the infection,” says Dr. Stuart Nichol of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “We know that she did enter the mouth of the cave but didn’t go very deep into the cave.”

A team from the CDC found that she’d contracted Marburg virus -- a hemorrhagic fever that causes extensive internal bleeding. Hers was the first case to reach the United States.

During the same period, another outbreak of hemorrhagic fever was devastating a remote village in the same region. It was discovered to be a new strain of the Ebola virus, which scientists believe was transmitted to humans who ate infected bush meat.

“Uganda is a really good example of a hot spot for where these diseases arise,” says Dr. Ali Khan of the CDC. “The infections due to animals represent 75 percent of all the emerging infectious diseases, and so if you’re really going to tackle these diseases, you can’t just focus on people. You need to focus on the animals, you need to focus on the environment, and on the interface where those come together to decrease infectious diseases worldwide.”

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