Kampala, Uganda - The death toll in Uganda from an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus has risen to 90 after three more people died in the past 24 hours, a health official said on Sunday.

Francis Omaswa, director-general of Uganda's medical services, said the deaths occurred in Gulu, in northern Uganda where the outbreak was first confirmed on 14 October.

Authorities had hoped to contain the disease in Gulu, 360 kilometres north of Kampala, but on Thursday experts confirmed that an Ugandan soldier had died of the disease hundreds of kilometres south of the capital, raising concern that it may have spread.

The soldier, Samuel Bandese, 20, died of the disease in Mbarara, 280 kilometres southwest of Kampala, on 26 October. And in Sunday's statement, Omaswa said a fourth suspected case had been admitted to Mbarara hospital.

Excluding the suspected cases in Mbarara, the number of people infected with the virus has risen to 280, after eight more case were confirmed in Gulu during the last 24 hours, Omaswa said.

Military officials were investigating with whom Bandese had been in contact before he died. He had been in Gulu, which like Mbarara, is a military town.

Ebola, which is spread by bodily contact, can cause severe haemorrhagic fever and is often fatal. The virus's early symptoms are similar to those of flu and upset stomach - a parallel that has led to many false reports. No one knows where the virus lives between outbreaks or how the first person in an outbreak contracts it.

There is no medical cure for the Ebola virus but patients treated with aggressive rehydration therapy have a good chance of survival.

In the Uganda outbreak, 155 people have so far recovered, Omaswa said.

The strain of the virus involved in the current outbreak has been identified as Ebola Sudan, one of three strains that can infect humans. It was last detected in neighbouring Sudan in 1979.

(From www.health.go.ug)