Uganda declared on Wednesday (11) the end of the outbreak of ebola caused by the strain of Sudan, less than four months after the confirmation of the first case in the district of Mubende, in the center of the country, on September 20, 2022.
“Uganda brought the Ebola outbreak to a swift end by stepping up key control measures such as surveillance, contact and infection tracing, prevention and control. While we expanded our efforts to implement a strong response in the nine affected districts, the ‘magic bullet’ was our communities who understood the importance of doing what was necessary to end the outbreak and acted,” said Ugandan Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng Acero, in a statement.
This was Sudan’s first Ebola virus outbreak in a decade and the fifth overall for this type of Ebola. In total there were 164 cases (142 confirmed and 22 probable), 55 confirmed deaths and 87 patients recovered.
More than 4,000 people who came into contact with confirmed cases were followed up and had their health monitored for 21 days. Overall, the fatality rate was 47%. The last patient was discharged on November 30, when the 42-day countdown to the end of the outbreak began.
“Uganda has shown that Ebola can be defeated when the whole system works together, from installing an early warning system, to locating and caring for affected people and their contacts, to getting affected communities’ full participation in the response. Lessons learned and systems put in place for this outbreak will protect Ugandans and others for years to come,” said Tedros Adhanom, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
This Ebola outbreak was caused by Sudan’s ebolavirus, one of six strains of the Ebola virus for which no treatment or vaccine has yet been approved.
“Without vaccines and therapies, this has been one of the most challenging Ebola outbreaks in the past five years, but Uganda has stayed the course and continually adjusted its response. Two months ago, it looked like Ebola would cast a shadow over the country until 2023, when the outbreak hit major cities like Kampala and Jinja, but this victory starts the year on a note of great hope for Africa,” said Matshidiso Moeti, Director -WHO Regional Office for Africa.
Soon after Uganda declared an outbreak, WHO worked with a wide range of partners, including vaccine developers, researchers, donors and the Ugandan health authorities to identify treatments and vaccine candidates for inclusion in trials. Three vaccines under development were identified and more than 5,000 doses of them arrived in the country with the first batch on December 8 and the last two on December 17.
“While these candidate vaccines were not used during this outbreak, they remain Uganda and partners’ contribution to the fight against Ebola. The next time Sudan’s Ebola virus strikes, we will be able to reignite the robust cooperation between developers, donors and health authorities and ship candidate vaccines,” said Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, WHO Representative in Uganda.
Although the outbreak in Uganda has been declared over, health authorities are keeping watch for the possibility of further outbreaks. In addition, a follow-up program was implemented to support survivors.
Source: CNN Brasil
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