The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is stepping up efforts in responding to the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Uganda.
Uganda declared an outbreak of the Sudan ebolavirus on 20 September and has so far reported 141 confirmed cases and 22 probable cases.
About 77 deaths have also been reported, while 19 health workers have been infected with the virus and seven declared dead.
While Uganda’s Jinja district became the third urban area to detect the virus, after Kampala and Masaka city, the outbreak is said to be slowing down in six other districts.
‘The confirmation of Ebola cases in a new district is a concern and places a further strain on the control efforts’, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said.
‘With their highly mobile residents and often crowded environments, cities favour the spread of the virus, but Uganda has progressively ramped up the response, keeping pace with the evolving situation.
‘WHO and partners are helping to trace, find, test, care for people with the virus and work with communities. But with the virus constantly on the move, we must press even harder to stay ahead’.
As the first doses of candidate vaccines against the virus are expected to arrive in Uganda in the coming days, WHO said it was boosting efforts to support the government-led response against the outbreak which has now affected nine districts.
A WHO committee of external experts has evaluated three candidate vaccines and agreed that they all be deployed to Uganda for a clinical trial against the Sudan Ebolavirus, one of the six species of the Ebolavirus genus.
Unlike the Zaire Ebolavirus, which has sparked most of the recent outbreaks, there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics for the Sudan Ebolavirus.
‘The start of vaccine trials will mark a pivotal moment towards the development of an effective tool against the virus behind the current Ebola outbreak in Uganda’, Dr Moeti added.
‘In previous outbreaks, we have seen how effective vaccines have averted the further spread of the virus, helping to quickly contain the epidemic.
‘But it will take time to get trial results and for now, the outbreak can be controlled without vaccines as we can see already with the slowing down of transmission in many of the affected districts’.
In support of the outbreak response, WHO has deployed 80 experts and supported health authorities with the deployment of additional 150 experts, including over 60 epidemiologists.
Photo source: WHO
