Dr. Diana Atwine, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health speaks to the media. (Photo: X).
Uganda’s Ministry of Health said it has confirmed an outbreak of the relatively rare Sudan ebolavirus with one case in Kampala, following examination from 3 national reference laboratories.
Dr. Diana Atwine – Permanent Secretary of the health ministry – made the announcement while addressing media on Thursday afternoon, adding the patient died.
“An outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Disease has been confirmed in Kampala, Uganda following confirmation from 3 National Reference Laboratories,” she declared in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The confirmed case is a 32-year-old male nurse, an employee of Mulago National Referral Hospital who initially developed fever-like symptoms and sought treatment at multiple health facilities, said the health official.
Dr. Atwine added that the government has activated Incident Management Team and dispatched Rapid Response Teams to both Mbale City and Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Matugga II.
She said 44 contacts have so far been listed including 30 Health workers and patients from Mulago, 11 Family Members of the deceased, and 4 health workers from Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Matugga.
The official assured Ugandans that the government is in “full control of the situation and continue to safeguard guard the lives of all people.”
She encouraged the public to report any suspected case of Ebola through a toll free line, 0800-100-066 or the nearest health facility.
South Sudan’s Ministry of Health was not immediately available for comment on the development. When contacted, Dr. Kadiende Chong, a Public Health at the ministry, said he was in meeting and will get back.
Little-known than Ebola Zaire, Sudan ebolavirus are members of the same Filoviridae virus family and are commonly referred to as filoviruses.
Both can cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. While there are two approved vaccines for Ebola Zaire, no licensed vaccines exist to protect against Sudan ebolavirus.
Sudan ebolaviruses are transmitted to humans by infected animals, particularly fruit bats. Once a human is infected, the virus can spread to others through close personal contact or contact with bodily fluids. Isolation of infected people is currently the centerpiece of filovirus control.
Ebola was identified in 1976 when two simultaneous outbreaks occurred in northern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in a village near the Ebola River and southern Sudan.
The outbreaks involved what eventually proved to be two different species of Ebola virus; both were named after the nations in which they were discovered.
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