Ebola Outbreak Traced to Ugandan Woman

K A B E D E  O P O N G, Uganda, Oct. 19 -- Esther Awete was found dead sixweeks ago in her round, gray mud hut by her mother and sisters fivedays after she fell ill with a fever.

In keeping with custom, her body was kept in her hut for twodays to allow friends and family to take part in the funeral.Awete’s family and closest friends ritually bathed her body, buriedher less than 30 feet from where she died and then washed theirhands in a communal basin as a sign of unity.

What they did not know was that Awete’s body had become a timebomb carrying the deadly Ebola virus. That was on Sept. 7. Now, hermother, three sisters and three other relatives are dead and thevirus has spread across a 15-mile radius, killing 39 people andinfecting as many as 63 others.

Painful Disease

Ebola is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, such asmucus, saliva and blood, and can be passed through a simplehandshake. Four days after exposure, flu-like symptoms set in,followed by bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Ten to 15 days later, thevictims “bleed out” through the nose, mouth, eyes and other orifices. Blood andother bodily fluids also begin seeping through the skin, producingpainful blisters.

How Awete — so far the first person known to have contractedEbola in Uganda — became infected is a mystery. In fact,researchers have no idea where the virus lives in betweenoutbreaks, which are often years and hundreds of miles apart. Whilethey know it resides in a host animal or insect that it does notkill, they have not identified the host.

One of Awete’s two children, a 9-month-old boy, died of Ebolawithin days of her funeral, although her 8-year-old son — who didnot take part in the funeral — has so far survived.

She Sold Beer and Corn

Awete, 36, lived with her mother and sisters in a small compoundof six thatched huts and a dilapidated house surrounded by bananatrees and rows of corn. She made her living selling home-brewedcassava beer and corn she ground by hand inside her 15-foot wide,windowless hut.