Two people have died of suspected Marburg disease in eastern Uganda, the health ministry said, adding that one of them was a hunter who was believed to have been infected by bats.
Marburg disease, named for the German city where it was first identified in the 1960s, is "highly fatal," according to the World Health Organisation, and is caused by a virus from the same family as the one that causes Ebola.
Uganda's health ministry confirmed that a 50-year-old woman died from the disease earlier this month after nursing her dying brother, who had exhibited similar symptoms.
"The deceased's brother was reported to be a hunter who carried out his activities where there are caves with heavy presence of bats," health minister Jane Aceng told reporters.
Fruit bats are one of the main hosts of the virus, along with monkeys. Infected monkeys, imported from Uganda for research purposes, are believed to have caused the outbreaks in Europe.
Symptoms include diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, and many patients also suffer haemorrhaging.
Ten health workers from the hospital where the woman died on October 11 have been isolated in their homes, the ministry said, adding that people who had attended the siblings' funerals would also be monitored.
In a 2012 Marburg outbreak in Uganda, seven people died.
