Health officials from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) today said Uganda’s Ebola outbreak has stabilized and is under control, with the ongoing epidemiologic investigation suggesting a single transmission chain.

At a media briefing, Ngashi Ngongo, MD, PhD, MPH, head of Africa CDC's mpox incident management team, said the outbreak total stands at nine cases, which includes five healthcare workers. The fatality count remains at 1, for a case-fatality rate of 11.1%. The patient who died is the index case, a 32-year-old male nurse who became ill in mid-January. He visited a traditional healer and three different health facilities before he died in Kampala.
The other eight patients are all in stable condition, he said, adding that no transmission has been detected outside of single chain.
Vaccine trial progresses, serologic and animal studies planned
Mosoka Papa Fallah, PhD, acting director of the science and innovation directorate at Africa CDC, said 214 contacts have been identified and that a vaccine trial with an initial supply of 2,000 candidate vaccine doses is under way in seven of eight rings that have been identified. He added that an additional 10,000 doses are expected to arrive in the region. The vaccine is from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a nonprofit vaccine research organization based in New York City.
Fallah also said African officials have met to discuss a research protocol, which will include serology studies to assess if Ebola Sudan is circulating undetected in the region. Also, animal sampling will be conducted to get a better picture of those that may be harboring the virus.
At a World Health Organization (WHO) briefing yesterday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said a therapeutics trial will soon begin in Uganda, after country officials clear the plan. Tedros said he has approved the release of $2 million more from the WHO’s emergency contingency fund, in addition to an initial $ 1 million allocation to support Uganda’s response.