KAMPALA, Uganda — Doctors were slow to respond to an outbreak of Ebola because symptoms weren’t always typical, but a World Health Organization official said Friday that authorities are halting the spread of the deadly disease.

Joaquim Saweka, the WHO representative in Uganda, told reporters in the capital Kampala that everyone known to have had contact with Ebola victims has been isolated. Health officials have created an Ebola contact list with names of people who had even the slightest contact with those who contracted the disease.

The list now bears 176 names.

Ebola was confirmed in Uganda on July 28, several days after villagers were found to be dying in a remote corner of western Uganda.

Officials were slow to investigate possible Ebola because the victims did not show the usual symptoms, such as coughing blood. At least 16 Ugandans have died of the disease.

Delays in confirming Ebola allowed the disease to spread to more villages deep in the western district of Kibaale, President Yoweri Museveni said.

Saweka said that organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are helping Ugandan officials to control the spread of the illness.