Health
Ebola Outbreak: One Dead in Uganda’s Capital Kampala – Health Ministry
Uganda’s health ministry has confirmed an outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Disease in the capital city Kampala, resulting in the death of a 32-year-old male nurse.
According to the ministry’s permanent secretary, Diana Atwine, “An outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Disease has been confirmed in Kampala, Uganda following confirmation from three national reference laboratories.”
The nurse, an employee of Mulago National Referral Hospital, initially developed fever-like symptoms and later experienced multi-organ failure, succumbing to the illness on Wednesday.
No other healthcare worker or patient on the ward has presented with signs or symptoms of Ebola, and rapid response teams have been mobilized to contain the outbreak.
A total of 44 contacts of the patient have been identified and will be vaccinated. However, it’s worth noting that there is currently no confirmed vaccine for Sudan Ebola.
This outbreak comes after Uganda’s previous Ebola outbreak in 2022, which lasted almost four months and claimed 55 lives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had praised Uganda’s efforts in controlling that outbreak through “surveillance, contact tracing, and infection prevention and control.”
The Sudan Ebola virus is one of six species of the Ebola virus, and its symptoms include fever, vomiting, bleeding, and diarrhea. Human transmission occurs through body fluids, and people infected do not become contagious until symptoms appear, usually within 2-21 days after exposure.
The WHO has reported that outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments. The deadliest Ebola epidemic occurred in West Africa between 2013 and 2016, claiming over 11,300 lives. The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced more than a dozen epidemics, with the deadliest outbreak in 2020 resulting in 2,280 deaths.
