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Uganda declares Ebola Virus Disease outbreak (SEBOV) - 20 Sept 2022 - Outbreak is over

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  • Uganda: Three questions for an MSF (Doctors Without Borders) epidemiologist about the new Ebolavirus variant

    December 13, 2022

    It has been over two weeks since the last confirmed Ebola case—a stillborn baby of a mother who survived the disease—was reported in Uganda. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been responding to the rare outbreak of the Sudan Ebolavirus variant since it was declared on September 20 by building Ebola treatment centers and treatment units, providing support to the Ugandan Ministry of Health for case management in these facilities, and conducting community outreach activities like health promotion and infection protection and control measures in health facilities where known patients went prior to diagnosis.

    What is the current trend of the outbreak in Uganda?

    In terms of trends, we saw two important peaks in the outbreak. The first one was in September in the Mubende district, which was the first epicenter of this outbreak, and then another in the neighboring district of Kassanda. While cases in these two districts alone represent 80 percent of all cases detected so far in this outbreak, a total of nine districts in the country were affected. Historically, this is the largest geographic spread of Ebola that Uganda has ever faced.

    After a steep rise of cases in October (86 cases over 4 weeks), the outbreak slowed in terms of numbers of new confirmed cases in recent weeks (14 cases in 4 weeks in November). However, we are very concerned that we had several Ebola cases that were not linked to any known chains of transmission—this means they had acquired the infection from an unknown source, which means those cases couldn’t be tracked through contact tracing and follow-up. This led to two new districts being affected, Masaka and Jinja.

    It’s extremely important to follow up with case contacts. When we identify all the people who were in contact with a confirmed case in time, we can monitor their health and help them to seek care swiftly at the right health facility in case Ebola-related symptoms develop. Yet according to the Ministry of Health data, only around 64 percent of case contacts initially received follow-up, pointing to gaps in this crucial part of the response. While the overall epidemiological trend is now positive, we remain concerned and vigilant about what could still happen.

    What are possible future scenarios?
    ...


    It has been over two weeks since the last confirmed Ebola case—a stillborn baby of a mother who survived the disease—was reported in

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    • WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing – 4 January 2023

      4 January 2023
      ...
      Ebola in Uganda has not been detected since 27 November. If this holds and there are no cases by 11 January, the outbreak will be declared over.
      ...
      "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
      -Nelson Mandela

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      • Uganda set to declare end of Ebola outbreak

        Issued on: 09/01/2023 - 12:32


        Kampala (AFP) – Uganda said on Monday it was expecting to declare an end to an Ebola virus outbreak that emerged late last year and has claimed the lives of at least 56 people.

        If no new case is reported by Tuesday, the health ministry said it would formally announce the end of the outbreak on Wednesday.
        ...
        Health ministry spokesman Emmanuel Ainebyoona said in an invitation to journalists that the "declaration ceremony" will take place in the central district of Mubende, the epicentre of the outbreak.

        Since the Ugandan authorities declared the latest outbreak in Mubende on September 20, the East African nation has registered 142 confirmed cases and 56 deaths, with the disease spreading to the capital Kampala.

        The last confirmed patient was discharged from hospital on November 30, according to health officials.
        ...


        "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
        -Nelson Mandela

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        • Uganda declares end of Ebola disease outbreak

          11 January 2023

          Brazzaville/Kampala – Uganda today declared the end of the Ebola disease outbreak caused by Sudan ebolavirus, less than four months after the first case was confirmed in the country’s central Mubende district on 20 September 2022.

          “Uganda put a swift end to the Ebola outbreak by ramping up key control measures such as surveillance, contact tracing and infection, prevention and control. While we expanded our efforts to put a strong response in place across the nine affected districts, the magic bullet has been our communities who understood the importance of doing what was needed to end the outbreak, and took action,” said Dr Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, Uganda’s Minister of Health.

          It was the country’s first Sudan ebolavirus outbreak in a decade and its fifth overall for this kind of Ebola. In total there were 164 cases (142 confirmed and 22 probable), 55 confirmed deaths and 87 recovered patients. More than 4000 people who came in contact with confirmed cases were followed up and their health monitored for 21 days. Overall, the case-fatality ratio was 47%. The last patient was released from care on 30 November when the 42-day countdown to the end of the outbreak began.

          Health authorities showed strong political commitment and implemented accelerated public health actions. People in the hot-spot communities of Mubende and Kasanda experienced restricted movements.

          “I congratulate Uganda for its robust and comprehensive response which has resulted in today’s victory over Ebola,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General. “Uganda has shown that Ebola can be defeated when the whole system works together, from having an alert system in place, to finding and caring for people affected and their contacts, to gaining the full participation of affected communities in the response. Lessons learned and the systems put in place for this outbreak will protect Ugandans and others in the years ahead.”

          This Ebola outbreak was caused by the Sudan ebolavirus, one of six species of the Ebola virus against which no therapeutics and vaccines have been approved yet. However, Uganda’s long experience in responding to epidemics allowed the country to rapidly strengthen critical areas of the response and overcome the lack of these key tools.

          “With no vaccines and therapeutics, this was one of the most challenging Ebola outbreaks in the past five years, but Uganda stayed the course and continuously fine-tuned its response. Two months ago, it looked as if Ebola would cast a dark shadow over the country well into 2023, as the outbreak reached major cities such as Kampala and Jinja, but this win starts off the year on a note of great hope for Africa,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

          Soon after Uganda declared the Sudan ebolavirus outbreak, WHO worked with a large range of partners, including vaccines developers, researchers, donors and the Ugandan health authorities to identify candidate therapeutics and vaccines for inclusion in trials. Three candidate vaccines were identified and over 5000 doses of these arrived in the country with the first batch on 8 December and the last two on 17 December. The speed of this collaboration marks a milestone in the global capacity to respond to rapidly evolving outbreaks and prevent them from becoming larger.

          “While these candidate vaccines were not used during this outbreak, they remain the contribution of Uganda and partners to the fight against Ebola. The next time the Sudan ebolavirus strikes we can reignite the robust cooperation between developers, donors and health authorities and dispatch the candidate vaccines,” said Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, WHO Representative in Uganda.

          WHO and partners supported Ugandan health authorities from the outset of the outbreak, deploying experts, providing training in contact tracing, testing and patient care, as well as building isolation and treatment centres and providing laboratory testing kits. Due to the joint efforts, the processing time for Ebola samples dropped from a few days to six hours. WHO helped to protect frontline health workers by organizing a steady supply of personal protective equipment. The Organization provided nearly US$ 6.5 million to Uganda’s response and an additional US$ 3 million to support readiness in six neighbouring countries.

          Although the outbreak in Uganda has been declared over, health authorities are maintaining surveillance and are ready to respond quickly to any flare-ups. A follow-up programme has been put in place to support survivors. Neighbouring countries remain on alert and are encouraged to continue strengthening their capacities to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.


          Brazzaville/Kampala – Uganda today declared the end of the Ebola disease outbreak caused by Sudan ebolavirus, less than four months after the first case was confirmed in the country’s central Mubende district on 20 September 2022. 
          "Safety and security don't just happen, they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear."
          -Nelson Mandela

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