Check out the FAQ,Terms of Service & Disclaimers by clicking the
link. Please register
to be able to post. By viewing this site you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Acknowledge our Disclaimers.
FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster.
The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website.
By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.
Ebola Claims Health Worker at Mulago Hospital
Top story Health
Dr. Atwine stated that 44 contacts have been identified, including his family members, health workers, and a traditional healer in Mbale.
Ebola kills nurse in Uganda's capital Kampala, first death from virus since last outbreak ended in 2023
Updated on: January 30, 2025 / 8:40 AM EST / AP
Kampala, Uganda — A nurse in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, has died of Ebola, a health official said Thursday, in the first recorded fatality since the last outbreak ended in 2023. Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the health ministry, told reporters the 32-year-old male patient was an employee of Mulago Hospital, the main referral facility in Kampala.
After developing a fever, the patient was treated at several locations in Uganda before
After developing a fever, the patient was treated at several locations in Uganda before multiple lab tests confirmed he had been suffering from Ebola. The patient died on Wednesday, and Ebola was confirmed following postmortem tests, Atwine….
At least 44 contacts of the patient have been listed, including 30 health workers and patients at the hospital in Kampala, according….
After the first Ebola death in Uganda in years, a senior health official says authorities in the African nation are "in full control of the situation."
January 30, 2025 KAMPALA
Ugandan health officials on Thursday confirmed a case of Ebola in the capital, Kampala, in a nurse who sought care at a number of facilities.
The nurse, a 32-year-old man, died Wednesday at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, after which health officials confirmed the cause was Ebola, the health ministry said. No one else at the hospital — health care worker or patient — has shown signs of Ebola.
So far, officials have identified more than 40 people who had contact with the man, including 30 health workers at the Kampala hospital, 11 family members, and four health care workers at another hospital in Matugga, which is about 20 kilometers outside Kampala. The man also sought help from a traditional healer….
….The confirmed case, designated as the index case, is a 32-year-old male nurse, an employee of Mulago National Referral Hospital who initially developed fever-like symptoms and sought treatment at multiple health facilities, including Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Matugga in Wakiso District, and MbaleRegional Referral Hospital in Mbale City, as well as from a traditional healer….
The patient presented with a five-day history of high fever, chest pain, and difficulty in breathing, which later progressed to unexplained bleeding from multiple body sites. The patient experienced multi-organ failure and succumbed to the illness at Mulago National Referral Hospital on 29th January 2025. Post-mortem samples confirmed Sudan Ebola Virus Disease. ….
The Ministry of Health Uganda revealed the man presented with a five-day history of "high fever, chest pain, and difficulty in breathing", before progressing to "unexplained bleeding"
Permanent Secretary, Dr. @DianaAtwine addresses the media this afternoon.
“An outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Disease has been confirmed in Kampala, Uganda following confirmation from 3 National Reference Laboratories.”
... “The confirmed case, designated as the index case, is a 32-year-old male nurse, an employee of Mulago National Referral Hospital who initially developed fever-like symptoms and sought treatment at multiple health facilities, including Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Matugga in Wakiso District, and Mbale Regional Referral Hospital in Mbale City, as well as from a traditional healer” ~ @DianaAtwine
... The patient presented with a five-day history of high fever, chest pain, and difficulty in breathing, which later progressed to unexplained bleeding from multiple body sites. The patient experienced multi-organ failure and succumbed to the illness at Mulago National Referral Hospital on 29th January 2025. Post-mortem samples confirmed Sudan Ebola Virus Disease. Currently, no other health care worker or patient on the ward has presented with signs or symptoms of Ebola.
...
Currently the Ministry has;
I. Activated the Incident Management Team and dispatched Rapid Response Teams to both Mbale City and Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Matugga
II. Contact listing; 44 contacts have so far been listed (30 Health workers and patients from Mulago,11 Family Members of the deceased, and 4 health workers from Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Matugga)
...
III. The deceased will be accorded a safe and dignified burial to prevent spread of the disease IV.
Vaccination of all contacts of the deceased against EVD is set to commence immediately targeting contacts of the deceased.
The government of #Uganda has announced an outbreak of the Sudan #Ebola virus. Tragically, a 32-year-old nurse has died. A full scale response is being initiated by the government and partners. @WHO is supporting the government through our country office and our emergencies programme. We have made an initial allocation of $1 million from the Contingency Fund for Emergencies.
Today, Uganda has confirmed a Sudan #Ebola virus Disease outbreak. @WHO commits to support the country in comprehensively responding to this outbreak by providing technical and logistical support.
WHO accelerates efforts to support response to Sudan virus disease outbreak in Uganda
30 January 2025
Brazzaville/Kampala – Following the confirmation of an outbreak of Sudan virus disease – which belongs to the same family as Ebola virus disease – in Uganda today, World Health Organization (WHO) is mobilizing efforts to support the national health authorities to swiftly contain and end the outbreak.
WHO is deploying senior public health experts and mobilizing staff from the country office to support all the key outbreak response measures. In addition, the Organization has allocated US$ 1 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to help accelerate early action, and is readying medical supplies, including personal protective equipment to deliver to Uganda from its Emergency Response Hub in Nairobi.
While there are no licensed vaccines for the Sudan virus disease, WHO is coordinating with developers to deploy candidate vaccines as an addition to the other public health measures. The vaccines will be deployed once all administrative and regulatory approvals are obtained.
So far one confirmed case – a nurse from Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital Kampala – has been reported. No other health workers or patients have shown symptoms of the disease. A total of 45 contacts, including health workers and family members of the confirmed case (deceased) have been identified and are currently under close monitoring. The identification of the case in a densely populated urban requires rapid and intense response.
“We welcome the prompt declaration of this outbreak, and as a comprehensive response is being established, we are supporting the government and partners to scale up measures to quicky identify cases, isolate and provide care, curb the spread of the virus and protect the population,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “Uganda’s robust expertise in responding to public health emergencies will be crucial in ending this outbreak effectively.”
There have been eight previous outbreaks of the Sudan virus disease, with five occurring in Uganda and three in Sudan. Uganda last reported an outbreak of Sudan virus disease in 2022.
“Banking on the existing expertise, we are accelerating all efforts, including expertise, resources and tools to save lives and bring the outbreak to a halt swiftly,” said Dr Kasonde Mwinga, WHO Representative in Uganda.
Sudan virus disease is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and other primates that is due to Orthoebolavirus sudanense (Sudan virus), a viral species belonging to the same genus of the virus causing Ebola virus disease. Case fatality rates of Sudan virus disease have varied from 41% to 100% in past outbreaks. There are no approved treatments or vaccines for Sudan virus. Early initiation of supportive treatment has been shown to significantly reduce deaths from Sudan virus disease.
Brazzaville/Kampala – Following the confirmation of an outbreak of Sudan virus disease – which belongs to the same family as Ebola virus disease – in Uganda today, World Health Organization (WHO) is mobilizing efforts to support the national health authorities to swiftly contain and end the outbreak.
WHO and partners enable access to candidate vaccine and treatments for outbreak of Sudan Ebola virus disease in Uganda
31 January 2025
News release
Geneva
WHO and partners have immediately boosted their support to the Ugandan government’s response to an outbreak of Sudan virus disease outbreak (SVD, part of the Ebola family), including by facilitating access to a candidate vaccine and candidate treatments. The first 2160 doses of the vaccine candidate and the treatments are already in Kampala, Uganda, as they were prepositioned as part of outbreak preparedness.
The vaccine trial processes underway include orientation of the research teams on the trial procedures, and logistics arrangements. Research teams have been deployed to the field to work along with the surveillance teams as approvals are awaited.
The candidate vaccine and the candidate treatments (a monoclonal antibody and an antiviral) are being made available through clinical trial protocols, which will make it possible to further document their efficacy and safety.
Uganda has experienced five previous SVD outbreaks. The last one was declared in September 2022 and ended in January 2023, with 164 cases and 77 deaths. During that outbreak, a WHO committee of external experts evaluated candidate vaccines and provided recommendations on their suitability for evaluation in Uganda, as part of a clinical trial against the SVD virus.
WHO is working with the Ministry of Health of Uganda and its designated Ugandan Principal Investigators and their teams from Makerere University Lung Institute and the Ugandan Virus Research Institute, as well as worldwide filovirus and trial experts and regulators, to initiate the trials.
The trials were designed via a global collaborative effort coordinated by WHO, that included developers, academic institutions, regulatory authorities, other experts and researchers from Uganda and other countries at risk of filoviruses outbreaks.
The aim of the vaccine trial is to evaluate a potentially efficacious candidate vaccine, and if efficacious, to possibly contribute to ending the ongoing outbreak and protect populations at risk in the future. Those eligible to join the trial are those at highest risk of SVD, i.e. close contacts of a person who has been confirmed to have had SVD or who has died from the disease. The study sites will therefore be the locations where contacts of the case or cases reside. Study teams will be mobile and able to rapidly move to these areas to do their work using the ring vaccination approach.
WHO is working with the Ministry of Health and with Makerere University Lung Institute and the Ugandan Virus Research Institute, who will lead the trials’ implementation.
The development of the protocols and research priorities has been done via the MARVAC Consortium and the Collaborative Open Research Consortium (CORC) for the Filoviridae Family, and numerous developers facilitated the availability of the candidate vaccine and treatments: IAVI provided their candidate Sudan vaccine, Gilead provided remdesivir, an antiviral.
Among those supporting the trials’ implementation are the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Canada’s International Development Research Centre, the European Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) and WHO. This rapid action is the result of tireless efforts to build international cooperation on research, innovation and evaluation and deployment of countermeasures in the face of dangerous pathogens.
While outbreaks of SVD are controllable without vaccines, control can be achieved more quickly using safe and effective vaccines. In the meantime, a comprehensive outbreak response is underway in Uganda to rapidly halt transmission, identify contacts and carry out epidemiological investigations, while enhancing community awareness.
WHO has allocated US$ 1 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to help accelerate outbreak control efforts.
Sudan virus disease is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and other primates that is due to Orthoebolavirus sudanense (Sudan virus), a viral species belonging to the same genus of the virus causing Ebola virus disease. Case fatality rates of Sudan virus disease have varied from 41% to 100% in past outbreaks. There are no approved treatments or vaccines for Sudan virus, but early initiation of supportive treatment has been shown to significantly reduce deaths from Sudan virus disease.
WHO and partners have immediately boosted their support to the Ugandan government’s response to an outbreak of Sudan virus disease outbreak (SVD, part of the Ebola family), including by facilitating access to a candidate vaccine and candidate treatments.
On 30 January 2025, the Ministry of Health of Uganda declared an outbreak of Sudan virus disease (SVD) following confirmation from three national reference laboratories. The case presented with signs and symptoms between 20 and 21 January and died on 29 January at the National Referral Hospital in Kampala. As of 30 January 2025, 45 contacts have been identified, including 34 healthcare workers and 11 family members. Sudan virus disease belongs to the same family as Ebola virus disease. It is caused by Sudan virus (SUDV). It is a severe disease with high case fatality from 41% to 70% in past outbreaks. In the absence of licensed vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of SVD, the risk of potential serious public health impact is high. Early supportive patient care and treatment may increase the chance of survival from severe disease.
Description of the situation
On 30 January 2025, the Ministry of Health of Uganda declared an outbreak of Sudan virus disease (SVD) following confirmation from three national reference laboratories.
The confirmed case was an adult male nurse who initially developed fever-like symptoms and sought treatment from a traditional healer as well as at multiple health facilities.
The patient presented with a history of high fever, chest pain, and difficulty in breathing with symptoms onset between 20 and 21 January, which later progressed to unexplained bleeding from multiple body sites. The patient experienced multi-organ failure and died at the National Referral Hospital on 29 January.
Samples taken post-mortem were confirmed for Sudan virus (SUDV).
Forty-five contacts have so far been identified, including 34 healthcare workers and 11 family members.
Epidemiology
Sudan virus disease is a viral hemorrhagic fever disease, belonging to the same family as Ebola virus disease. It is caused by Sudan virus (SUDV). It is a severe disease with high case fatality. It is typically characterized by acute onset of fever with non-specific symptoms/signs (e.g., abdominal pain, anorexia, fatigue, malaise, myalgia, sore throat) usually followed several days later by nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and occasionally a variable rash. Hiccups may occur. Severe illness may include hemorrhagic manifestations (e.g., bleeding from puncture sites, ecchymoses, petechiae, visceral effusions), encephalopathy, shock/hypotension, multi-organ failure, spontaneous abortion in infected pregnant women. Individuals who recover may experience prolonged sequelae (e.g., arthralgia, neurocognitive dysfunction, uveitis sometimes followed by cataract formation), and clinical and subclinical persistent infection may occur in immune-privileged compartments (e.g., CNS, eyes, testes). Person-to-person transmission occurs by direct contact with blood, other bodily fluids, organs, or contaminated surfaces and materials with risk beginning at the onset of clinical signs and increasing with disease severity. Family members, healthcare providers, and participants in burial ceremonies with direct contact with the deceased are at particular risk. The incubation period ranges from 2 to 21 days, but typically is 7–11 days.
Public health response
Health authorities are implementing public health measures, including but not limited to the following:
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has activated the Incident Management Team and dispatched Rapid Response Teams to the affected district. The MoH team has also listed contacts at the National Reference Hospital.
Regional Emergency Operation Centers are being activated in Kampala and the affected district.
Facilities have been identified for quarantine of all listed contacts.
MoH is organizing to carry out a safe and dignified burial of the patient.
In their official press statement, the MoH provided recommendations to health workers, district leaders, and the public to strengthen detection of suspected cases and implement appropriate infection, prevention and control measures.
MoH set up a hotline for notification of suspected cases.
WHO is supporting the national authorities, including through:
Risk assessment and investigation.
Providing operational, financial and technical support to the Ministry of Health to ensure swift response.
Facilitating access to candidate vaccines and therapeutics
WHO risk assessment
Sudan virus disease (SVD) is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans. Sudan virus (SUDV) was first identified in southern Sudan in June 1976. Since then, the virus has emerged periodically and up to now and prior to this current one, eight outbreaks caused by SUDV have been reported, five in Uganda and three in Sudan. The case fatality rates of SVD have varied from 41% to 70% in past outbreaks.
SUDV is enzootic and present in animal reservoirs in the region. Uganda reported five SVD outbreaks (one in 2000, one in 2011, two in 2012, and one in 2022). The current outbreak is the sixth SVD outbreak in Uganda. Uganda also reported a Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in 2007 and an Ebola virus disease outbreak exported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2019. The latest SVD outbreak in Uganda was declared over on 11 January 2023. A total of 164 cases with 77 deaths were reported in nine districts.
Uganda has experience in Ebola disease outbreaks including SVD, and necessary action has been initiated quickly.
In the absence of licensed vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of SVD, the risk of potential serious public health impact is high. Community deaths, care of patients in private facilities and hospitals and other community health services as well as at traditional healers with limited protection and infection prevention and control measures entail a high risk of many transmission chains. An investigation is ongoing to determine the scope of the outbreak and the possibility of spread to other districts and potential exportation of cases to neighbouring countries cannot be ruled out at this stage.
WHO advice
Effective Ebola disease outbreak, including SVD, control relies on applying a package of interventions, including case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, implementation of infection prevention and control measures in health care and community settings, safe and dignified burials and community engagement and social mobilization. Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks. Raising awareness of risk factors for infection and prevention measures that individuals can take is an effective way to reduce human transmission.
Early initiation of intensive supportive treatment increases the chances of survival. All above-mentioned interventions need to be thoroughly implemented in affected areas to stop chains of transmission and decrease disease mortality. Cases, contacts and individuals in affected areas who present signs and symptoms compatible with case definitions should be advised not to travel and seek early care at designated facilities to improve their chances of survival and limit transmission.
Collaboration with neighbouring countries should be enhanced to harmonize reporting mechanisms, conduct joint investigations, and share critical data in real-time. Surrounding countries should enhance readiness activities to enable early case detection, isolation and treatment.
A range of candidate vaccines and therapeutics are under different stage of development. In 2022, WHO convened expert deliberations to review candidate products prioritization and trial designs. One candidate vaccine and two candidate therapeutics (a monoclonal antibody and an antiviral) are available in country and will be made available through clinical trial protocol.
The two vaccines licensed against Ebola virus disease will not provide cross protection against SVD and cannot be used in this outbreak.
WHO advises against any restrictions on travel and/or trade to Uganda based on available information for the current outbreak.
The head of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program said Saturday that six people who were in contact with Uganda’s latest Ebola case have become ill, though it’s not yet clear if they too are suffering from the dangerous viral disease. One is the wife of the patient, who died Wednesday, and several others are health workers. ...
First participants vaccinated with IAVI’s Ebola Sudan vaccine candidate in Uganda amid Ebola outbreak
The vaccine candidate is being evaluated in a ring vaccination trial as part of a comprehensive public health response.
NEW YORK – FEB. 3, 2025 – The first participants have been vaccinated with an investigational Ebola Sudan vaccine candidate provided by IAVI, a nonprofit scientific research organization, as part of a World Health Organization (WHO)-led ring vaccination trial taking place at Makerere University Lung Institute in Kampala. WHO prioritized evaluation of IAVI’s candidate vaccine, which was already prepositioned in Uganda, as part of a global collaborative effort supporting the country’s Ebola outbreak response.
This is Uganda’s sixth outbreak of Ebola Sudan, which causes severe hemorrhagic fever disease with a case fatality rate of up to 50%. No licensed vaccines or therapeutics are available for Ebola Sudan, a Category A priority pathogen. Existing Ebola Zaire vaccines are not cross-protective for Ebola Sudan.
Mark Feinberg, M.D., Ph.D., IAVI president and CEO, said: “IAVI is grateful for the efforts that the WHO, the Ugandan government, and our public health partners in Uganda have made in enabling the rapid deployment of our investigational Ebola Sudan vaccine candidate to address the ongoing outbreak of Ebola Sudan in Uganda. We believe this clinical trial represents an important step toward evaluating the potential of IAVI’s vaccine to protect exposed individuals from Ebola Sudan infection as well as demonstrating its value as a safe, effective, and accessible new tool to include in comprehensive outbreak responses in the future. Critically, having vaccine doses readily available in country made it possible for us all to mobilize in just days and to be able to incorporate evaluation of a promising Ebola Sudan vaccine clinical trial into the public health response very soon after the first reports of the current outbreak.”
Uganda’s current Ebola outbreak began on Jan. 30 with a confirmed infection in a health worker who died in Kampala, and since then 45 contacts have been identified. Close contacts are at elevated risk of infection and are prioritized for inclusion in a ring vaccination trial.
A study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine confirms the high-level effectiveness of ring vaccination in containing Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The vaccine assessed in that study – ERVEBO®, Merck’s single-dose Zaire ebolavirus vaccine – uses the same recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) viral vector platform as IAVI’s Ebola Sudan vaccine candidate. ERVEBO® is licensed in more than a dozen countries.
More about IAVI’s investigational Ebola Sudan vaccine candidate
In 2023, IAVI initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial of its rVSV-based Ebola Sudan vaccine candidate. The study was designed to evaluate the Ebola Sudan vaccine candidate in healthy U.S. adult volunteers at three dose levels. Initial results from that study indicate that the candidate vaccine was well tolerated across all three groups; immune responses were also detected in all three groups. These data were shared in November 2024 during the annual meeting American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. As a follow-up to this study, IAVI and our partners are currently planning a Phase 1 study in Africa.
In addition to being the backbone of the Ebola Sudan vaccine candidate, rVSV is the platform technology utilized in IAVI’s portfolio of emerging infectious disease (EID) candidates, including a Lassa virus vaccine candidate currently in Phase 2 clinical trials in West Africa, supported by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP).
WEEKLY BULLETIN ON OUTBREAKS
AND OTHER EMERGENCIES
Week 05: 27 January to 02 February 2025
Data as reported by: 17:00; 02 February 2025
... Sudan Virus Disease
Uganda
2 cases
1 Deaths
50% CFR
EVENT DESCRIPTION
On 30 January 2025, the Ministry of Health of Uganda
notified WHO of an outbreak of Sudan Virus Disease
(SVD) following confirmation of a case in the capital city,
Kampala. This is the second reported outbreak of SVD in
the country in the past three years.
The case is a 32-year-old male nurse, resident of
Wakiso District, Central Region, Uganda. He initially
developed symptoms of fever on 19 January 2025,
which progressed to chest pain, dyspnoea, unexplained
haemorrhage from multiple orifices, and multi-organ
failure leading to his death. He died on 29 January 2025
at a referral hospital in Kampala, where he worked,
following disease progression. Post-mortem blood
samples tested positive for Sudan virus infection on
30 January 2025 through real-time polymerase chain
reaction (RT-PCR) tests conducted at three different
national reference laboratories: the Central Public Health
Laboratory in Kampala, the Uganda Virus Research
Institute (UVRI), and the Public Health Laboratory at
Makerere University.
The source of the case’s exposure to the Sudan virus is
under investigation. However, while symptomatic, he
reportedly sought care from a traditional healer in Mbale
District and visited three different health facilities - one
in his home district of Wakiso, another in Mbale District,
Eastern Uganda, and the third in Kampala, where he
ultimately died.
A second case, the wife of the index case, tested
positive for Sudan virus infection on 02 February 2025,
after developing signs and symptoms indicative of the
disease.
A total of 234 contacts have so far been identified as of 02
February 2025. Of these, 118 are contacts while seeking
health care. Three close contacts of the index case have
developed symptoms and have been transferred to
isolation wards for clinical management and testing.
Sudan Virus Disease belongs to the same family as Ebola
Virus Disease, both classified as filoviruses. There have
been eight previous outbreaks of SVD, five in Uganda
and three in Sudan. The most recent outbreak, reported
in September 2022 in Uganda, resulted in 164 cases
with 55 deaths before being declared over. Currently, no
licensed vaccines or specific therapeutics exist for the
prevention or treatment of SVD, but there are candidate
therapeutics and vaccines that can be administered
under clinical trial protocol.
.
PUBLIC HEALTH ACTIONS
The Ministry of Health of Uganda has activated the
national Incident Management Team (IMT) to coordinate
the outbreak response with support from WHO and
its health partners. Rapid response teams have been
deployed to Kampala, Mbale, and Wakiso districts to
investigate the outbreak, determine its source, and trace
contacts. At the district level, task forces have been
activated to oversee the response, with support from the
national level. Response activities are being coordinated
from the Public Health Emergency Operations Centres
(PHEOC).
WHO has allocated US$ 1 million from its Contingency
Fund for Emergencies to help the country accelerate early
response actions, including procuring and dispatching
medical supplies, such as personal protective equipment
(PPE), from its Regional Emergency Response Hub in
Nairobi.
Surveillance for SVD has been enhanced in the affected
districts. Case investigation and contact tracing activities
are ongoing, with 234 contacts identified and placed
under daily monitoring. Healthcare workers are receiving
refresher training on detecting and reporting suspected
cases of SVD.
Uganda’s national reference laboratories have the
molecular capacity to diagnose filovirus infections,
including SVD, using RT-PCR and next-generation
sequencing. A national testing strategy for filoviruses is
in place, and mobile laboratories have been deployed to
the subnational level to support testing.
Three isolation facilities, established in Kampala, Wakiso,
and Mbale districts, are available for case management.
One case is currently in admission undergoing clinical
care. The capital has a national emergency medical team
trained in infectious disease response and a dedicated
isolation center with 84 beds.
A safe and dignified burial was conducted for the index
case on 31 January 2025.
With support from WHO, the country is planning to
launch a ring vaccination approach among primary and
secondary contacts as part of a trial using a candidate
vaccine. A total of 2,160 doses have already been
prepositioned in Uganda. The vaccines will be deployed
in the coming days once all administrative, ethical, and
regulatory approvals are obtained.
A protocol for transmission-based infection prevention
and control (IPC) practices in healthcare facilities is in
place to prevent healthcare-associated infections.
SITUATION INTERPRETATION
The confirmation of an SVD case in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, poses a high risk of further spread due to the case’s
movements across multiple districts and healthcare facilities. Given Kampala’s dense and highly mobile population
and Mbale’s proximity to the Kenyan border, rapid containment measures are critical. The source of the outbreak
remains unknown, indicating the possibility of undetected transmission chains or a new zoonotic spillover. Enhanced
surveillance, including case investigation and contact tracing, as well as infection prevention and control in health
facilities and risk communication, are essential to controlling this outbreak. Although Uganda has experience in
responding to SVD outbreaks, robust technical and logistical support to mount an effective response will be crucial in
averting a larger outbreak.
Tweet
.tmb-1200v.jpg?sfvrsn=b60dd396_6)
Comment