Ebola claims second victim

KAMPALA, Uganda — A second person infected with the Ebola virus has died in Uganda, the health ministry said Thursday, after a family exposed to the disease quietly crossed the border from Congo.

The first cross-border cases in this Ebola outbreak — the second-deadliest in history — have prompted a World Health Organization expert committee to meet on Friday to discuss whether to declare a global health emergency. Such declarations almost always boost attention and donor funding.

Uganda health ministry spokesman Emmanuel Ainebyoona confirmed the death of the 50-year-old woman overnight. Her 5-year-old grandson was the first confirmed death from Ebola in Uganda on Wednesday. The boy’s 3-year-old brother also is infected.

Uganda’s health ministry said all members of the Congolese-Ugandan family, including a 6-month-old baby, have been sent to Congo for monitoring and experimental treatments as part of clinical trials. There is no licensed treatment for the virus which can spread quickly via close contact with bodily fluids of those infected and can be fatal in up to 90% of cases.

More than 1,400 people have died in this outbreak declared in August in eastern Congo, one of the world’s most turbulent regions, where rebel attacks and resistance by community members wary of authorities have badly hampered Ebola containment work.

For months, officials have feared the virus would cross the heavily traveled border where health workers have been screening millions of people for fever and other symptoms.