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The patient, a male nurse at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, had initially sought treatment at various facilities, including Mulago, as well as with a traditional healer, after developing fever-like symptoms
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The Ugandan capital of Kampala has reported the first Ebola virus death of the year with health officials confirming an outbreak of the disease on Thursday.
With this, the East African nation has confirmed its ninth Ebola outbreak since it recorded the first infection in 2000.
The patient, a male nurse at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, had initially sought treatment at various facilities, including Mulago, as well as with a traditional healer, after developing fever-like symptoms.
In a statement, the health ministry said, “The patient experienced multi-organ failure and succumbed to the illness at Mulago National Referral Hospital on Jan. 29. Post-mortem samples confirmed the Sudan Ebola Virus Disease (strain).”
Authorities have tracked down 44 people the victim had come in contact with which includes 30 health workers.
However, contact tracing could be challenging as Kampala, where the latest Ebola infection cropped up, is a crowded city of over 4 million people and a crossroads for traffic to South Sudan, Congo, Rwanda and other countries.
The highly contagious hemorrhagic fever spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissues. Symptoms include headaches, muscle pain, vomiting blood, and bleeding.
Learning from past experience, Uganda has built the necessary infrastructure like laboratory testing, patient care know-how, contact tracing and other skills to mitigate the effects of a possible Ebola virus outbreak.
Uganda last suffered an outbreak in late 2022 and that was declared over on January 11, 2023 after nearly four months in which it struggled to contain the viral infection.
The last outbreak killed 55 of the 143 people infected and the dead included six health workers.
Meanwhile, the health department has said that it will kickstart a vaccination drive for all contacts of the deceased. There is currently no approved vaccine for the Sudan strain of Ebola, though Uganda received some trial vaccine doses during the last outbreak.
With inputs from Reuters