By Blessing David
The health authorities in Uganda today declared an outbreak of Ebola after a case of the Sudan ebola virus was confirmed in Mubende district in the central part of the country.
This was disclosed in a statement made available to health reporters by the WHO’S Regional Director for Africa,Dr Matshidiso Moeti.
He stated that the Uganda Virus Research Institute confirmed the case after testing a sample taken from a 24-year-old male which follows an investigation by the National Rapid Response team of six suspicious deaths that have occurred in the district this month even though there are currently eight suspected cases who are receiving care in a health facility.
“This is the first time in more than a decade that Uganda is recording an outbreak of Sudan ebola virus.
WHO says they are working closely with the national health authorities to investigate the source of this outbreak while supporting the efforts to quickly roll out effective control measures,.
According to Dr Moeti, “Uganda is no stranger to effective Ebola control. Thanks to its expertise, action has been taken to quickly to detect the virus and we can bank on this knowledge to halt the spread of infections,
There have been seven previous outbreaks of the Sudan ebola virus, with four occurring in Uganda and three in Sudan. Uganda last reported an outbreak of Sudan ebola virus in 2012. In 2019, the country experienced an outbreak of Zaire ebola virus. The virus was imported from neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo which was battling a large epidemic in its north-eastern region”.
WHO says it is helping Ugandan health authorities with the investigation and is deploying staff to the affected area while ring vaccination of high-risk people with Ervebo (rVSV-ZEBOV) vaccine has been highly effective in controlling the spread of Ebola in recent outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other places. Adding that the vaccine has only been approved to protect against the Zaire virus while another vaccine produced by Johnson and Johnson may be effective but is yet to be specifically tested against Ebola Sudan.
According to WHO Ebola is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and other primates which has six different species, three of which are Bundibugyo, Sudan and Zaire and have previously caused large outbreaks just as case fatality rates of the Sudan virus have varied from 41% to 100% in past outbreaks.
