Uganda’s health ministry has confirmed seven cases of Ebola including a man who died this week with seven other death cases under investigation as the suspected Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) continues to cause havoc.
In an online press conference hosted by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo on September 22, 2022, Kyobe Henry Bbosa, Uganda’s Ebola incident commander, stated that the epidemic might have started this month, despite ongoing investigations having yet identified a specific index case or patient.
Currently, the nation is coping with the most recent virus outbreak which is the Sudan strain.
“As of today, we have seven confirmed cases, one confirmed death and seven probable cases that died before the confirmation of the outbreak,” Bbosa confirmed.
Doctors are working round the clock to mount a response to the relatively rare form of the highly contagious virus and has no approved vaccine, with the infections believed to have spread over an area of about 70km (43m).
Before symptoms like high fever, diarrhea, and stomach pain start, Ebola can hibernate for up to 21 days. This implies that there are probably more infections that haven’t been discovered.
The 24-year-old man who died from the illness, according to Bbosa, showed symptoms of high fever, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting blood. He was originally treated for malaria, but later discovered to have contacted the Sudan strain.
The World Health Organization (WHO) previously verified the discovery of the Sudan strain in a sample taken from a 24-year-old Ugandan man on Tuesday, which was three days prior.
According to reports, this is the first time in more than ten years that the uncommon Sudan strain has been discovered in Uganda.
The Zaire type of the Ebola virus broke out in the nation in 2019.
Bbosa asserted that during the beginning of the month, people started dying in a small village in central Uganda’s Mubende area. The last Ebola Sudan strain outbreak in Uganda was reported in 2012.
The strain is less contagious than Ebola Zaire, according to Patrick Otim, health emergency officer at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, who also noted that it had a lower fatality rate in past outbreaks.
Otim said that the Zaire strain had a vaccine, however the Sudan strain didn’t which made it a larger threat.
Dr. Bbosa report dated Thursday, states that Ebola has spread through rural areas in Uganda for approximately 50 kilometers, with cases concentrating close to a main road connecting the country’s capital, Kampala, with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
43 contacts have been found so far, and ten people are suspected to have contracted the infection.
Neighbouring countries have remained vigilant as they continue to monitor the situation on the borders with Kenyan counterparts said to have fastened checkups and testing to publics between the two countries.