A nurse in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, has died from Ebola, marking a fresh outbreak of the deadly virus, the country’s health ministry confirmed on Thursday.
The ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine, said, “An outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Disease has been confirmed in Kampala, Uganda, following confirmation from three national reference laboratories.”
The victim, a 32-year-old male nurse working at Mulago National Referral Hospital, first showed fever-like symptoms before experiencing multi-organ failure. He died on Wednesday.
The health ministry assured the public that no other healthcare workers or patients in the hospital had shown Ebola symptoms. However, 44 people who had contact with the deceased nurse have been identified and will receive vaccinations.
Ebola spreads through body fluids, with symptoms including fever, vomiting, bleeding, and diarrhoea. The Sudan strain, which has no confirmed vaccine, is one of six species of the virus.
Uganda previously battled an Ebola outbreak in 2022 that lasted nearly four months and claimed 55 lives. Two districts, Mubende and Kassanda, were placed under lockdown during that period before the outbreak was declared over in early 2023.
The World Health Organization had credited Uganda’s response, which included “surveillance, contact tracing, and infection prevention and control.” However, controlling outbreaks in urban areas remains challenging.
Ebola was first discovered in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The deadliest outbreak occurred in West Africa between 2013 and 2016, killing more than 11,300 people.
