LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The latest outbreak has refreshed the memories of Ugandans as the rare, hemorrhagic disease killed 37 people in western Uganda in 2007 and claimed the lives of at least 170 people in the north of the country in 2000.

Fourteen people have already died in the latest outbreak and as many as 26 more are feared to be carrying the disease, which kills nine out of ten people who become infected.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni addressed his nation on national television to tell people to avoid those who appeared to have Ebola symptoms, which include fever, headaches, diarrhea and vomiting.

"I therefore appeal to you to be vigilant," Museveni declared. "When you contact each other physically, then Ebola spreads. Avoid shaking of hands. We discourage the shaking of hands because that can cause a contact through sweat which can cause problems. Do not take on burying somebody who has died from symptoms which look like Ebola.

"Avoid promiscuity because these sicknesses can also go through sex."

The outbreak began almost a month ago in a village in western Uganda. Doctors failed to diagnose the illness because it did not present typical symptoms.

Health Secretary of the Kibaale District Stephen Byaruhanga first hit by the disease, said cases of Ebola, at first concentrated in a single village, are now being reported across the region.

"It's no longer just one village. There are many villages affected," he said.

Barnabas Tinkasimire, a lawmaker from the region, accused Uganda's central government of being too slow to react to the outbreak.

"It took long for the government to respond, and up to now many people don't know how to guard against Ebola," he said.

People began fleeing their villages as more and more people died, and those who had come into contact with earlier victims then also caught the virus. One family lost nine members.

Officials from Uganda's health ministry only recently confirmed that the disease was Ebola at the weekend, by the time it had reached the capital.

This is the fourth occurrence of Ebola in Uganda since 2000, when the disease killed 224 people and left hundreds more traumatized in northern Uganda. Ebola is one of the most contagious and deadly diseases known to mankind - and there is no cure. 

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.