Uganda is experiencing a rising number of Ebola cases, with recent data revealing the count has climbed to 14 within the past week. The latest cluster originated from a 4-year-old child who recently succumbed to the disease, noted health officials from Africa’s top public health agency. According to Dr. Ngashi Ngongo of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from the five new reported cases, three have been confirmed as Ebola while two are probable.
The Africa CDC indicated that this new outbreak cluster does not have direct epidemiological ties to the previous cluster of nine Ebola cases, which included the first victim. Spread across five of Uganda’s 146 districts, the virus has also made its way to Kampala, the capital. In fact, the outbreak was officially announced there on January 30, and since then, two Ebola-related deaths have been confirmed.
Despite the outbreak’s seriousness, local health officials have been lax in updating the public regularly, leading to transparency concerns. Reports emerged of several hospitals in Kampala treating suspected or confirmed Ebola cases without notifying the public. Dr. Charles Olaro from the Ministry of Health expressed confidence that the situation was being managed but stated there was no obligation for officials to provide updates on each occurrence.
Contact tracing remains crucial to controlling the spread of the Ebola virus, though no approved vaccine exists for the Sudan strain currently impacting Uganda. The disease is transmitted through contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids or contaminated materials and is known for its severe hemorrhagic fever, symptoms such as fever, vomiting, and bleeding both internally and externally.
Initial investigations suggest Ebola outbreaks often begin after someone comes into contact with an infected animal, possibly even consuming its raw meat. Presently, Ugandan authorities are probing into the latest outbreak’s origins. The initial victim was a male nurse who died just prior to the outbreak’s official declaration, having attempted to diagnose his illness through treatment at various facilities including traditional healers.
Uganda’s previous Ebola episode, identified in September 2022, led to more than 55 fatalities, before being declared over in January 2023. Dr. Emmanuel Batiibwe, who was instrumental during previous outbreak responses, labeled the current outbreak as “amorphous,” requiring robust surveillance to manage sporadic cases and contact tracing for containment.
In recent years, East Africa has been a hotspot for viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks. In January, Tanzania faced a Marburg virus outbreak, a disease akin to Ebola, and Rwanda concluded its Marburg outbreak declaration in December. Uganda has dealt with multiple outbreaks of the Ebola virus, including a devastating one in 2000. Comparatively, the 2014-16 Ebola epidemic in West Africa resulted in over 11,000 deaths, marking the deadliest outbreak in recorded history. Initially discovered in 1976, Ebola took its name from the Ebola River near its first-known outbreak sites in South Sudan and Congo.
