KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Ministry of Health has confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease in Uganda, with the first case and death reported in Mubende district.
According to a tweet by the Ministry, the confirmed case is a 24-year-old male a resident of Ngabano village of Madudu Sub County in Mubende District who presented symptoms of the EVD, and tested positive for the hemorrhagic fever before passing on.
The Permanent Secretary at the Health Ministry, Dr Diana Atwiine while addressing the media on Tuesday morning confirmed that at least six other people in the same area have died this month after suffering “a strange illness.”
She however reassured that the country is ready to take on the outbreak as it has in the past.
“The good thing is that every district has a rapid response, so any clinic in that area which get any patient with symptoms should contact the district authorities so we can constitute the measures for investigation and isolation.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo, which neighbours Uganda to the west, is currently battling an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease, previously categorised as a haemorrhagic fever.
According to the World Health Organisation, the disease is transmitted to people from animals and spreads through human-to-human infection.
In a statement released by WHO, the reported case in Uganda was of the relatively rare Sudan strain, after health ministry authorities investigated six suspicious deaths in the district this month.
“There are currently eight suspected cases who are receiving care in a health facility,” WHO Africa said, adding it was helping Uganda’s health authorities with their investigation and deploying staff to the affected area.
Uganda has had at least three previous episodes of Ebola Virus Disease, the most deadly being in 2000 which claimed hundreds of lives, including Doctor Matthew Lukwiya, who was the lead medical officer in charge of the disease then.
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