A nurse in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, dies after contracting the highly infectious haemorrhagic fever.
Uganda has confirmed an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Kampala, its capital city, and the death of a nurse, the Ministry of Health says.
The victim, who died on Wednesday at a Kampala hospital, was a 32-year-old man, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the Health Ministry, told reporters on Thursday.
He sought treatment at various facilities, including at a public hospital in Mbale, 240km (150 miles) east of Kampala near the border with Kenya, she said.
“The patient experienced multi-organ failure and succumbed to the illness at Mulago National Referral Hospital on 29 January. Post-mortem samples confirmed the Sudan Ebola Virus Disease (strain),” the Health Ministry said in a statement.
It is Uganda’s first confirmed Ebola fatality since 2023.
At least 44 people, including 30 health workers, who came into contact with the nurse are being traced in an effort to contain the potential spread of the highly contagious virus, the ministry said.
It added that a vaccination drive for all contacts of the deceased will begin immediately.
Atwine said health authorities are “in full control of the situation”, urging Ugandans to report suspected cases.
An outbreak of Marburg, which is similar to Ebola, was declared in neighbouring Tanzania last week.
Rwanda, which also borders Uganda, has just emerged from a Marburg outbreak.
A contact-tracing drive may be challenging because Kampala is a crowded city of more than 4 million people. It is also a bottleneck for traffic into South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and other countries.
Ebola, a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever, is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissues. Symptoms include headache, vomiting, muscle pains and bleeding.
In recent years, Ugandan authorities have used laboratory testing, contact tracing and other techniques to bring Ebola outbreaks under control.
Uganda last suffered an outbreak in late 2022, which killed 55 of the 143 people infected. The deceased included six health workers.
The East African nation has experienced nine outbreaks of the viral disease since 2000.
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