Girl dies of new eye-bleeding fever which is feared to be worse than bubonic plague

Fears are growing of a major health crisis in East Africa as a girl died of a suspected fever which could be more deadly than the Black Death.

The nine-year-old died in central Uganda with the symptoms of an eye-bleeding disease which could kill up to 40 per cent of those infected by it.

The outbreak comes months after hundreds of people were killed by the plague in Madagascar in one of the worse diseases in 50 years.

The symptoms of the mystery disease include headaches, bleeding, vomiting, diarrhoea and muscle pains, according to the Daily Star Sunday.

According to preliminary reports, a health team rushed to disinfect the girl's house and put her in a body bag after she died in the Nakaseke District of central Uganda.

A relative of the dead girl said that the family had been left in the dark about burial arrangements while health officials rushed to contain the disease.

Three people were earlier reported to have died in South Sudan last week of a similar viral fever. 

The medieval Black Death, caused by the bubonic plague, killed around 100million people in Europe after reaching the continent in 1347.