Uganda confirms Ebola outbreak in capital Kampala

Uganda has confirmed an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the capital Kampala with the first confirmed patient dying from it on Wednesday, the health ministry said on Thursday.

It is the East African country’s ninth outbreak since it recorded its first infection of the viral disease in 2000.

The patient, a male nurse at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, had initially sought treatment at various facilities, including Mulago, as well as with a traditional healer, after developing fever-like symptoms.

“The patient experienced multi-organ failure and succumbed to the illness at Mulago National Referral Hospital on Jan. 29. Post-mortem samples confirmed the Sudan Ebola Virus Disease (strain),” the ministry said in a statement.

Forty-four contacts of the deceased man have been listed for tracing, including 30 health workers, the ministry said.

However, contact tracing could be challenging as Kampala, where the latest Ebola infection cropped up, is a crowded city of over 4 million people and a crossroads for traffic to South Sudan, Congo, Rwanda and other countries.

The highly infectious hemorrhagic fever is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissue. Symptoms include headache, vomiting of blood, muscle pains and bleeding.

Ugandan authorities have used capacity built up over years, such as laboratory testing, patient care know-how, contact tracing and other skills, to bring recent Ebola outbreaks under control in relatively short order.

The World Health Organization said it had allocated $1 million from its contingency fund for emergencies to support quick action to contain the outbreak.

The global health body was also working with developers to send out candidate vaccines, it said in a statement.

Uganda last suffered an outbreak in late 2022 which killed 55 of the 143 people infected. That outbreak was declared over on Jan. 11, 2023.

Vaccination against Ebola for all contacts of the deceased will begin immediately, the ministry said. There is currently no approved vaccine for the Sudan strain of Ebola, though Uganda received some trial vaccine doses during the last outbreak.

An outbreak of Marburg, a cousin of Ebola, was declared in neighbouring Tanzania last week. Uganda also borders Rwanda, which has just emerged from a Marburg outbreak, and Congo where outbreaks of Ebola are common.