Ebola death toll hits 10 in Uganda as health bosses scramble to contain outbreak

Another health worker has died from Ebola in Uganda, taking the country’s death toll to 10 as officials scramble to contain the highly dangerous infection. 

This latest death comes just two weeks after the government declared an outbreak of the Ebola virus, which can kill up to half of those it infects. 

Uganda’s health minister Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero said that a 58-year-old female anaesthetic officer had died of Ebola earlier today.

‘The late Margaret is the fourth health worker we have lost in the current Ebola outbreak,’ the minister said on Twitter.

This latest fatality in the country follows the deaths of a doctor, a health assistant and a midwife from the virus. 

According to the country’s health ministry’s last update on Monday, the total number of cases identified in the East African nation stands at 43.

Since the initial outbreak was discovered in the central district of Mubende, infections have been found in the Kassanda, Kyegegwa and Kagadi areas. 

But Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has vowed not to impose any lockdowns to tackle the disease, saying last week that there was ‘no need for anxiety’.

The Ebola virus — which tore through West Africa during a devastating epidemic a decade ago — spreads very easily

The first Ebola fatality in the current outbreak was a 24-year-old man in late September. The victim lived the central district of Mubende, located 90 miles (145km) west of the capital, Kampala

He said some 19 others classified as probable Ebola cases had also died, but said they were buried before they could be tested for infection.

Ebola is an often-fatal viral haemorrhagic fever named after a river in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where it was discovered in 1976.

The virus is mainly transmitted through exposure to bodily fluids, with the main symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea.

It naturally resides in fruit bats, monkeys and porcupines living in the rainforest, and can also be transmitted through eating uncooked ‘bushmeat’. 

Ebola outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments.

People who are infected do not become contagious until symptoms appear, which is after an incubation period of between two and 21 days.

The virus began spreading in Uganda in late September when the first fatality, a 24-year-old man, was recorded in the central district of Mubende, located 90 miles (145km) west of the capital, Kampala.

The victim tested positive for the Sudan strain of the virus — which Uganda hasn’t detected since 2012. 

There are currently no licensed medication to prevent or treat this strain of Ebola.

Uganda, which shares a porous border with the DRC, has experienced several Ebola outbreaks, most recently in 2019 when at least five people died.

The DRC last week declared an end to an Ebola virus outbreak that emerged in eastern North Kivu province six weeks ago.

The worst epidemic in West Africa between 2013 and 2016 killed more than 11,300 people alone. 

In previous Ebola outbreaks have high risk individuals have been vaccinated with the Ervebo vaccine.

However theses have only been approved  

The WHO said ring vaccination of high-risk people with the Ervebo vaccine had been highly effective in controlling Ebola’s spread in recent outbreaks. 

But this jab had only been approved to protect against the Zaire strain.

Another vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson may be effective but has yet to be specifically tested against the Sudan strain.