Uganda Confirms Ebola Outbreak After 1 Person Dies Of Virus: Health Ministry

Ebola Virus Outbreak: The World Health Organization's (WHO) Africa office in a statement said that the case was of the relatively rare Sudan strain.

Patients inside the confinement room. (Source: File photo/Getty)

New Delhi: The Ugandan Ministry of Health on Tuesday confirmed a 24-year-old man's death from Ebola, the government department said via Twitter. "The confirmed case is a 24-year-old male [...] who presented with EVD symptoms and later succumbed," the health ministry said in a statement on Twitter on Tuesday, using an abbreviation for the disease.

Uganda confirms an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Mubende District, Uganda.

The confirmed case is a 24 year old male a resident Ngabano village of Madudu Sub County in Mubende District presented with EVD symptoms and later succumbed. pic.twitter.com/36i9xyxdxm

— Ministry of Health- Uganda (@MinofHealthUG) September 20, 2022

The World Health Organization's (WHO) Africa office in a statement said that the case was of the relatively rare Sudan strain.

“This is the first time in more than a decade that Uganda is recording an outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus. We are working closely with the national health authorities to investigate the source of this outbreak while supporting the efforts to quickly roll out effective control measures,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. 

“Uganda is no stranger to effective Ebola control. Thanks to its expertise, action has been taken to quickly to detect the virus and we can bank on this knowledge to halt the spread of infections,” he said.

Ebola, a deadly and dangerous virus infection, was first identified in 1976 in the DRC (then Zaire), the virus, whose natural host is the bat has since set off a series of epidemics in Africa, killing around 15,000 people, as reported by news agency AFP.

Symptoms of the Ebola virus that comes from animals to humans are usually fever, flu with bleeding from the nose, ears, and mouth. 

Uganda has witnessed multiple outbreaks of the Ebola virus with the most recent one in 2019 that left at least five people dead.