Health bosses have warned that the spread could be “catastrophic” following the sudden death of a child in Uganda after three people were killed by the virus in South Sudan in December.
Up to 60 people are now feared to be infected by the disease, which leaves people bleeding from their eyes, mouth and anus.
The disease – which can kill up to 40 percent of all infected and is usually spread by tick bites or contact with infected livestock – can cause muscle pains, headaches, vomiting diarrhoea and bleeding.
Experts have now warned the horrific new virus could bring fresh mystery to the continent, still reeling from the deadly Ebola virus outbreak between 2014-16.
They fear it could be worse than the Black Death outbreak last year, after the sudden death of child in Uganda’s neighbouring Nakaseke district.
Tests have confirmed the nine-year-old died from the disease, officially named Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.
Sarah Opendi, state minister for health, said: “Results from Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe tested positive for the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever and negative for other viral Hemorrhagic Fevers like Ebola, Marburg, Rift Valley Fever and Sosuga.”
The confirmation comes barely two weeks after the ministry of health denied the outbreak of the virus – dubbed deadlier than the Plague.
Authorities at the hospital said that the body would be buried by health teams due to the “sensitivity” about a further outbreak.
It was hoped the swift actions of the health teams would help to prevent any possible outbreak.
But three people who died in Sudan, including a pregnant woman, teenage boy and a teenage girl from the Eastern Lake State, are also said to have been killed by the so-called “Eye Bleeding Fever”.
Those feared infected are now undergoing tests by a ream from the Sudanese healthy ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In humans, the disease can be transmitted from one person to another through close contact with the blood, secretions or organs.
A total of 52 countries have reported a substantial number of cases each year.
Bleeding Eye Fever begins to feel like a normal fever before it escalates and the victims vomits blood.
In a recent WHO report, experts wrote: “The outbreak of suspected viral hemorrhagic fever in South Sudan could rapidly evolve, and critical information including laboratory confirmation of the aetiology of disease is needed to direct response efforts.
“Strengthened surveillance in affected human and animal populations is needed to facilitate rapid detection of human and animal cases and response; strengthened capacity to clinically manage any new cases is also needed in the affected area.”