Health report Uganda: An Ebola update
Two months after the first reported cases the Ebola outbreak is under control, according to the Health ministry of Uganda. The last reported Ebola admission was on the third of this month.
There have not been new cases reported since then,
Dr. Dennis Lwamafa, acting director general of health services confirmed.
The ministry of health wishes to inform the general public that the Ebola outbreak in Kibale District is increasingly coming under control. No confirmed Ebola case has been reported outside Kibale District, Lwamafa further stated.
The Ugandan Ministry of Health is working together with several partners including WHO, CDC, MSF, the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) and USAID to defeat the Ebola virus.
According to the WHO (stated the 17th this month) there are 24 probably and confirmed cases from which 16 resolved in death. In contrast the Ugandan newspaper New Vision is reporting over 20 deaths until the 24th of august.
On the 24th of August the New Vision reported a donation of health supplies given to the Ebola patients in the Kagadi hospital in Kibale. The health supplies were handed over by the chief executive officer of Uganda Insurers Association, Miriam Magala.
The outbreak is almost under control. However, more people continue to be followed up, investigated and discharged after receiving treatment for other ailments, Magala said.
While Uganda is recovering from the Ebola outbreak, news from another outbreak across the border of the DRC is entering Uganda.
We are just coming out of battling Ebola. We have to take all measures, including the possibility of sending a team there to help them stop it and ensuring that it does not spill over here,
Lukwago, ministry’s permanent secretary, said in a statement to New Vision.
We usually co-operate with our neighbors as well as the international organizations when such outbreaks happen, he added.
The two outbreaks involve different strains of the virus: the Bundibugyo strain in DRC and the Sudan strain in western Uganda.
The outbreak in Uganda and the one in DRC are not related, says Olimpia de la Rosa, MSF emergency coordinator. This strengthens the idea that the Ebola virus is transmitted by close contact, making it less likely to cross borders.
