Ebola outbreak in Uganda officially ended, say authorities

(WHO/Matt Taylor https://bit.ly/3QwuOHD)

The outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Uganda, which lasted almost four months and claimed the lives of 77 people, was officially declared over.

Ebola is a highly contagious and extremely dangerous viral disease that affects humans, as well as some other primates.

Its agent, which is now classified as the genus Ebolavirus of the filovirus family, was first isolated in 1976.

Since then, more than 30 outbreaks have been reported, mostly in Central and West Africa, with a horrid fatality rate of 235% to 90 %.

The start of the latest Ugandan outbreak was announced on September 20, 2022, when a 24-year-old man from Mubende district tested positive for Sudanese ebolavirus.

The Sudanese variant is one of six species of the pathogen that has not been detected in humans since 2012.

Mubende and Kassanda counties in the Central Region of Uganda have imposed a strict lockdown following a rapid rise in cases.

(WHO/Vincent D. https://bit.ly/3isAWEh)

DECLARED OVER
On January 10, 2023, 42 days had passed since the last reported case of the disease, twice the maximum incubation period for Ebola.

According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), this is enough to declare the outbreak ended, which was done.

In total, during its course, the disease was detected in 164 patients, of which 77 died and 87 recovered.

The mortality reached 47% this time.

So far, there have been 7 outbreaks caused by the Sudanese ebolavirus - four in Uganda and three in Sudan.

They had an average death rate of 57%, lower than the Zairean ebolavirus, which kills about 70% of those infected.

Ugandan Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng thanked everyone for their vigilance and a job well done.

However, she warned of the risk of repeat outbreaks and stressed the need for Ebola vaccines.

Three vaccines are currently approved for use in different countries:

rVSV-ZEBOV
Ad26.ZEBOV/MVA-BN-Filo
Ad5-EBOV

However, they are all designed to protect against Zairian ebolavirus, not the Sudanese variant.

Several developers were ready to test their experimental vaccines against the Sudanese strain during the Ugandan outbreak.

But this time they did not have time to agree and organize trials according to the developed protocol.

Sources:

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