The World Health Organization has confirmed an Ebola virus outbreak case in Uganda.
WHO said this is the first confirmed case in the country during the Ebola outbreak on-going in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“The confirmed case is a 5-year-old Congolese child who travelled from the DRC with his family on 9th June 2019. The child and his family entered the country through Bwera Border post and sought medical care at Kagando hospital where health workers identified Ebola as a possible cause of illness,” WHO said in a statement on Tuesday.
The child was transferred to Bwera Ebola Treatment Unit for management as soon as the confirmation was made by Uganda Virus Institute (UVRI). Other contacts are being monitored, WHO Uganda said.
Ebola virus disease is a severe illness that is spread through contact with the body fluids of a person sick with the disease (fluids such as vomit, feces or blood). First symptoms are similar to other diseases and thus require vigilant health and community workers, especially in areas where there is Ebola transmission, to help make diagnosis. Symptoms can be sudden and include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat
In the meantime, Uganda’s Ministry of Health and WHO have dispatched a Rapid Response Team to Kasese to start contact tracing and management of cases that are likely to occur. Community education, psychosocial support have also been intensified, and vaccination of those who might have come into contact with the patient will be done.
The ministry also said its support supervision teams are in Rweshama landing site in Rukungiri district to assess Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) preparedness, and that 185-250 people are screened daily at the Lake Edward Point Of Entry.
“@MinofHealthUG, @WHOUganda and @CDCemergency will begin ring vaccination against Ebola of contacts of the case and frontline health and other workers on Friday 14th June 2019,” the ministry tweeted on Tuesday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus commended Uganda for its quick response to the case.
“I commend the Ministry of Health of Uganda for responding quickly to the identification of a case of Ebola. Uganda has experience managing Ebola and has been preparing for months for this eventuality. This kind of experience and preparedness is vital to prevent the further spread of the virus,” Tedros said.
In May, experts warned that the Ebola epidemic in the DRC was getting out of control.
More than 1,600 people were infected in North Kivu province since outbreak began in August, while 298 new confirmed cases were reported in the country between April 15 and May 5, 2019. More than 1,000 have died so far – the great majority women and children.
