Uganda Hepatitis E Outbreak. Death toll: 121

Uganda, a country in central Africa (south of Sudan and west of Kenya) is currently dealing with a large hepatitis E outbreak. Reuters News reports that over 7000 people are infected and, according to recent sources, at least 121 people have died. This outbreak has been going on since October 2007.

Hepatitis E is a disease similar in many ways to hepatitis A, but not very common in the United States. It can be epidemic in locations that struggle with sanitation and have developing water supply systems. In the case of Uganda, it seems that the combination of recent civil war, an influx of people returning to their homes and poor sanitation have created the perfect environment for this fecal-oral disease.

What makes this tragedy especially unfortunate is that hepatitis E isn't usually fatal. Like hepatitis A, it develops into an acute, self-limiting disease. Unlike hepatitis A, hepatitis E can develop into fulminant hepatitis in 1-2% of people infected and up to 20% in infected pregnant women.