The Ugandan Ministry of Health, on Thursday, January 30, announced that it had confirmed an outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease in Kampala, the capital city of the country. “We have confirmed an outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Disease in Kampala, Uganda, following verification from three National Reference Laboratories,” read a statement shared via X by Dr. Diana Atwine, the Permanent Secretary at the Ugandan Ministry of Health. According to Atwine, the index case is a 32-year-old male nurse from Mulago National Referral Hospital who had sought treatment from multiple other treatment facilities. “Our rapid response teams are fully deployed, contact tracing is underway, and all necessary measures are in place to contain the situation. We assure the public that we are in full control,” she said. The ministry called upon the Ugandan public to report any suspected case of Ebola to its toll free line, 0800-100-066 or the nearest health facility. Currently the ministry says it has activated the incident management team and dispatched rapid response teams, in addition to listing 44 contacts so far. The contacts include 30 health workers and patients from Mulago hospital, 11 family members of the deceased, and four health workers from Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Matugga, a Kampala suburb. Ebola, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissue. Symptoms include headache, vomiting of blood, muscle pains and bleeding. Uganda last suffered an outbreak in late 2022 and that was declared over on January 11, 2023 after nearly four months in which it struggled to contain the viral infection.
