Ebola Outbreak hits Uganda

The Ministry of Health- MOH and the World Health Organization- (WHO) have declared an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Uganda.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, MOH Permanent Secretary Dr. Diana Atwine confirmed that a 24-year-old man who showed symptoms of the disease died on Monday.

Atwine says the deceased reported to hospital with Ebola like symptoms, his sample was taken on September 18 and returned positive for the Sudan strain of Ebola. The deceased was a male a resident of Ngabano village, Madudu Sub County in Mubende District .

Atwine says health and district rapid response teams have been deployed in the district to monitor and investigate the exact source of the disease.

The PS however says the same village has registered community deaths in relation to the disease. She identifies those affected as three adults and children all from the same family who were buried on September 15

The MOH officials are currently isolating all the contacts and tracing suspects. Atwine has appealed for calm from the public within and outside Uganda, indicating that the country has a good track record in handling pandemics.

According to health workers at Mubende hospital, at least six people died in Mubende after showing signs of the deadly virus.

Ebola Outbreak hits Uganda

The dead include: a female aged 10 months from Kilwani village, Kiruma who died on September 11 from St. Florence medical Clinic; a male aged 32; an enrolled nurse at St. Florence Medical Clinic in Madudu who died on September 15 from Cure medical clinic in Mubende town and a female aged 43 from Bulega who died on died on September 1 at Mubende Referal hospital.

The WHO’s Africa office said in a statement that the case was of the relatively rare Sudan strain, after Ugandan health authorities investigated six suspicious deaths in the district this month.

Late last month, the government started vaccinating frontline soldiers of the nation’s army fighting against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in conflict-torn DR Congo. 

This followed a WHO report that a new case of Ebola was confirmed in Beni Health Zone in the North Kivu Province and that 160 contacts of the confirmed case have been identified for close monitoring of their health.

The epicenter of the current outbreak is close to Uganda’s border to the West.

Are you currently showing any of the symptoms below?

  • Fever.
  • Aches and pains, such as severe headache and muscle and joint pain.
  • Weakness and fatigue.
  • Sore throat.
  • Loss of appetite.
  • Gastrointestinal symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting.
  • Unexplained hemorrhaging, bleeding or bruising.
    • Compiled By Rashidah Nakaayi