One more case has been confirmed in Uganda's Ebola Sudan outbreak, involving the wife of the index patient, the World Health Organization (WHO) African regional office said in its weekly health bulletin on outbreaks and other health emergencies.
The woman was tested on February 2 after experiencing symptoms of the disease. Her husband was a 32-year-old nurse who became ill in the middle of January and died from his infection.
So far, 234 contacts have been identified, 118 of them related to medical settings. Three of the man's close contacts have developed symptoms and have been isolated for treatment and testing.
The WHO said the man's exposure to the virus is still under investigation. While symptomatic, he visited a traditional healer in Mbale district and sought care at three healthcare facilities, which were located in his home district Wakiso, another in Mbale in the eastern part of the country, and another in Uganda's capital city, Kampala, where he died.
Risks of undetected transmission chains, further spread
Uganda has experienced five Ebola Sudan outbreaks, most recently in September 2022. An initial genetic analysis suggests that the latest outbreak isn't linked to the earlier outbreak and may involve a new jump from animals to people. "The source of the outbreak remains unknown, indicating the possibility of undetected transmission chains or a new zoonotic spillover," the WHO said.
Confirmation of Ebola Sudan in Uganda poses a high risk of further spread owing to the index patient's movements across multiple districts and healthcare facilities, the WHO said. It added that rapid containment is critical, because of Kampala's dense population and Mbale's location near the border with Kenya.
Uganda has experience managing Ebola outbreaks, and yesterday officials launched a ring vaccination trial using prepositioned doses of an experimental vaccine provided by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a nonprofit vaccine research organization based in New York City.
