Ebola continues to kill in Uganda. The new epidemic in the center of the country claimed 17 lives in three weeks, the health ministry said Monday. The disease is often fatal, but vaccines and treatments now exist against this hemorrhagic fever, which is transmitted to humans from infected animals. President Yoweri Museveni ruled out any containment in late September, saying the country had the ability to contain the outbreak.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 29 deaths in the country from Ebola since the outbreak began on 5 October, but this figure includes deaths among people who have been confirmed to have been affected by the virus, but also among the suspected cases. The Ugandan government only counts deaths among confirmed patients, or 48 people as of October 9, according to the ministry. The previous report by the Ugandan authorities, published on 5 October, estimated the number of dead at 10.
A “relatively rare” strain of the virus
The first cases were recorded in the Mubende district, in the center of the country, before the epidemic, confirmed by the authorities on 20 September, spread to the neighboring districts of Kassanda, Kyegegwa and Kagadi. According to WHO, the first identified death from this outbreak (and the first person to die from the disease in Uganda since 2019) succumbed to a “relatively rare” strain of the Ebola virus, said to be Sudanese, which was not most been reported in this Great Lakes country since 2012.
Human transmission occurs through body fluids and the main symptoms are fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhea. Infected people do not become contagious until symptoms appear, with the incubation period ranging from 2 to 21 days. The disease has six different strains, three of which (Bundibugyo, Sudan, Zaire) have already caused severe outbreaks.
