One dead as Uganda confirms Ebola outbreak

The ministry of health in Uganda has declared an outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in the country.

Uganda’s ministry of health announced the outbreak, in a statement published on its verified Twitter handle, on Tuesday.

The ministry said the confirmed case is a 24-year-old resident of Nhabano village of Madudu sub county in Mubende district.

The ministry said the infected resident died of the virus, which is from the Sudan strain.

“The confirmed case is a 24 year old male a resident Ngabano village of Madudu Sub County in Mubende District presented with EVD symptoms and later succumbed,” the ministry wrote.

“The clinical team took off samples for testing at UVRI. Results confirmed that the patient was positive for the Ebola-Sudan strain.”

.@MinofHealthUG and partners have dispatched a Rapid Response Team to Mubende District to support the teams in surveillance, contact tracing, and case management. #EbolaOutbreakUG

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— Ministry of Health- Uganda (@MinofHealthUG) September 20, 2022

Reacting to the development, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said the current outbreak is the first time in more than a decade that Uganda would record an outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus.

Moeti said Uganda is not a stranger to effective control of the virus, adding that the country can rely on its knowledge to stop transmission of infection.

“This is the first time in more than a decade that Uganda is recording an outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus,” she said.

“We 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.

“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.”

WHO said there had been seven previous outbreaks of Sudan ebolavirus — four in Uganda and three in Sudan.

The global health body added that Uganda last reported an outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus in 2012 and an outbreak of the Zaire ebolavirus in 2019.

The virus was first detected in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and has since been reported in many African countries.