The ministry of health in Uganda has confirmed six new Ebola cases after the country announced an outbreak earlier this week.
A 24-year-old with Ebola symptoms was pronounced dead on Tuesday September 20 in the Uganda central district of Mubende.
After the death of the 24-year-old, WHO sighted 8 other suspected cases and noted that they were helping the Ugandan health ministry with investigations.
One of the new cases was from a neighboring district making it the third outbreak of the Ebola Sudan strain in Uganda.
Experts say that the Ebola Sudan strain historically has lower levels of transmission, infections and deaths compared to the Ebola Zaire strain but warned people to take it seriously as there was yet no vaccine for the strain.
“There is no proven vaccine for the Sudan strain of Ebola, and it’s very critical at this point that we treat this outbreak as serious, because we may not have the advantage that we have gained in terms of the advancement in medical countermeasures,” said Dr. Patrick Otim, an epidemiologist with WHO.
The WHO African’s regional director Matshidiso Moeti thanked Uganda for the expertise and caution taken in dealing with the first case in a while.
“Uganda is no stranger to effective Ebola control. Thanks to its expertise, action has been taken to quickly detect the virus, and we can bank on this knowledge to halt the spread of infections,” Said Matshidiso
Also Read: Uganda Declares First Ebola Death Since 2019