Reports of the first Ebola-related death of this year have surfaced, following the confirmation of a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in Kampala, the capital, by health authorities on Tuesday. This will be the ninth recorded case of the disease in East Africa since a single case was reported way back in 2000.
He presented himself to several health facilities, including Mulago and a traditional healer, with symptoms similar to fever. The male nurse died of multi-organ failure on January 29, according to Uganda’s Ministry of Health. Post-mortem tests confirmed that he was infected with the Sudan strain of Ebola.
Health officials identified 44 people who had come into contact with the victim, including 30 healthcare workers. However, it is difficult to trace all the possible contacts as Kampala, a city with a population of over 4 million, is a major transit hub for travellers going to South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and further afield.
Ebola is a very contagious haemorrhagic fever that causes infection through direct contact with body fluids from the infected. It presents with headache, muscle aches, and vomiting blood or internal bleeding.
Uganda has now gained experience in handling Ebola cases, as infrastructure for laboratory testing, patient care, and contact tracing has become robust. Its last outbreak occurred for nearly four months and was declared over on January 11, 2023, when 143 people were infected, and 55 died, six of whom were healthcare workers.
The health department is set to launch a mop-up spree on those with direct contact with the deceased due to this latest case. To date, there is no registered Ebola vaccine for Sudan, although some doses of the experimental vaccine had been assigned to Uganda last year during a different outbreak, the Ugandan health authorities who are not relenting in their heightened vigilance over the dreaded further spread of the virus.