SEVEN people have tested positive and two have died from a highly contagious strain of Ebola in Uganda, as scientists race to develop a lifesaving vaccine.
This marks a sharp increase from the two cases reported just a few days ago in the capital, Kampala.
There are now seven cases of Ebola Sudan in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, up from two just a couple days ago[/caption]
A married couple have died from the highly contagious virus[/caption]
In neighbouring Tanzania, nine people died last month after testing positive for the Marburg virus, a highly infectious cousin of Ebola.
The patient in Uganda, a 32-year-old male nurse, sought treatment at several different healthcare facilities after developing fever-like symptoms.
He also visited a public hospital in Mbale, roughly 150 miles east of Kampala near the border with Kenya.
He died 10 days later from the Sudan strain of Ebola, with his wife becoming the outbreak’s second victim.
At least 298 people who came into contact with the couple are now being traced, and 40 are to be vaccinated with an experimental new jab.
The updated case numbers were presented during a World Health Organisation (WHO) webinar, according to the infectious disease tracking forum FluTrackers.
It is the first time that Uganda has reported a confirmed outbreak of Ebola since 2022, when at least 164 people were infected, leading to 55 deaths.
The Ebola strain responsible for both that outbreak and the most recent death is known as the Sudan variant.
It is the most contagious but least deadly strain – although it still kills around 50 per cent of those it infects.
There is no approved vaccine for the Sudan strain of Ebola, though one exists for the Zaire strain.
This week, Uganda has begun a clinical trial for a vaccine targeting the Sudan variant.
Health workers and other people exposed to the strain are being targeted in the trial which began on Monday.
“This vaccination trial was initiated with record speed,” the WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
Ebola is a rare but serious disease that flagged by the UN organisation as a “priority pathogen” with pandemic potential.
It causes vomiting and diarrhoea, rashes, kidney and liver failure, and bleeding into the whites of the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
It is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissues.
There are five different strains, the most common being the Zaire strain, which has a fatality rate of 80-90 per cent if left untreated.
The Sudan strain is slightly less lethal, killing between 40-60 per cent per cent, but it is more contagious than the Zaire variant.
Ebola was first detected in the mid-1970s in simultaneous outbreaks in South Sudan and the Congo.
How does Ebola spread?
The virus is transmitted through direct contact with blood and body fluids and objects that have been contaminated by someone with Ebola.
It also spreads through contact with sick or dead wild animals.
It can taken symptoms two to 21 days to appear following infection – this is known as an incubation period.
Ebola first manifests as a high fever, intense muscle and joint pain, headaches and a sore throat.
Initial symptoms are often followed by vomiting and diarrhoea, rashes on the skin, kidney and liver failure, and sometimes internal and external bleeding.
People who survive the virus can suffer from arthritis as well as vision and hearing problems.
Some types of Ebola can be prevented with vaccines and treated with medicines.
Source: World Health Organisation
Since then, the deadly disease has been behind dozens of outbreaks in the region and killed thousands.
Marburg outbreak
Earlier this week, health authorities in Tanzania, which shares a border with southern Uganda, sounded the alarm over an outbreak of Marburg fever.
Since the country officially announced the outbreak in late January, 10 people have tested positive for the virus and nine have died – reflecting the virus’s 90 per cent mortality rate.
Ngashi Ngongo, from Africa’s Centre for Disease Control Centre (CDC) told an online briefing that the figures highlighted “the very high case fatality of Marburg”.
“We are doing everything we can with WHO and all the partners,” he said.
It comes a month after WHO declared the end of a three-month Marburg outbreak in Rwanda, which killed 15 people.
Dr Tedros, previously said the global risk from Tanzania’s current outbreak was “low”.
“Even though there is no approved treatment or vaccines, outbreaks can be stopped quickly,” he said.
“WHO advises against restrictions. Now is the time for collaboration.”
Like Ebola, Marburg is also on the WHO watchlist of pathogens that could trigger the next pandemic.
Previous outbreaks have seen around half of those infected die, though in places where health care is poor, that has risen to nearly 90 per cent.
