Uganda has announced that the latest Ebola disease outbreak caused by Sudan ebolavirus is over.
The outbreak ended in less than four months after the first case was confirmed in Uganda’s central Mubende district on September 20, 2022.
Health Minister Ruth Aceng disclosed that no new cases had been registered in the past forty-two days.
“Uganda put a swift end to the Ebola outbreak by ramping up key control measures such as surveillance, contact tracing and infection, prevention and control. While we expanded our efforts to put a strong response in place across the nine affected districts, the magic bullet has been our communities who understood the importance of doing what was needed to end the outbreak, and took action.”
Ruth Aceng Ocero, Uganda’s Minister of Health.
This outbreak was the first in a decade of the less common Sudan strain which, unlike the Zaire strain that has caused outbreaks in neighboring Congo in recent years, has no proven vaccine or therapeutics.
Uganda had recorded 142 cases including 56 deaths since the outbreak was announced in September. Ebola, which can sometimes manifest as a hemorrhagic fever, spreads through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials.
WHO Africa Director, Matshidiso Moeti disclosed that with no vaccines and therapeutics, the latest outbreak was one of the most challenging Ebola outbreaks in the past five years.
“Two months ago, it looked as if Ebola would cast a dark shadow over the country well into 2023 as the outbreak reached major cities such as Kampala and Jinja, but this win starts off the year on a note of great hope for Africa.”
Matshidiso Moeti
Plans to test three potential vaccines for the Sudan strain; from the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the University of Oxford and Merck will go ahead in Uganda.
The WHO country representative, Yonas Tegren Woldemariam, stated that global health experts will meet on Thursday, January 12, 2023 to decide on when and how the trials should begin.
It was the country’s first Sudan ebolavirus outbreak in a decade and its fifth overall for this kind of Ebola. More than 4000 people who came in contact with confirmed cases of Ebola were followed up and their health monitored for 21 days.
Overall, the case-fatality ratio was 47%. The last patient was released from care on November 30, 2022 when the 42-day countdown to the end of the outbreak began.
Health authorities showed strong political commitment and implemented accelerated public health actions. People in the hot-spot communities of Mubende and Kasanda experienced restricted movements.
WHO Director-General Congratulates Uganda
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General congratulated Uganda for its robust and comprehensive response which has resulted in the victory over Ebola.
“Uganda has shown that Ebola can be defeated when the whole system works together, from having an alert system in place, to finding and caring for people affected and their contacts, to gaining the full participation of affected communities in the response. Lessons learned and the systems put in place for this outbreak will protect Ugandans and others in the years ahead.”
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
WHO and partners supported Ugandan health authorities from the onset of the outbreak in many ways.
Although the outbreak in Uganda has been declared over, health authorities are maintaining surveillance and are ready to respond quickly to any cases that may emerge.
A follow-up programme has been put in place to support survivors. Neighbouring countries remain on alert and are encouraged to continue strengthening their capacities to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
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