Ebola caseload rises to 16 as outbreak grows – Ministry of Health

The ministry of health said on Sunday its Ebola caseload had jumped to 16 people while a further 18 people also likely had the disease, fuelling fears of a spreading outbreak that involves a strain for which a vaccine has not yet been found. #Ebola #UgandaNews #News

In a tweet, the ministry of health also said the death toll of confirmed cases remained at four while 17 others classified as probable cases had also died. The outbreak had also now spread to three districts, all in central Uganda.

Last week, it announced the outbreak of Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever whose symptoms include intense body weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea and rashes among others. 

The current outbreak, attributed to the Ebola Sudan strain, appears to have started in Mubende district around the beginning of September, authorities have said.

The first casualty was a 24-year old man who died earlier this week in Mubende.

The World Health Organization says the Ebola Sudan strain is less transmissible and has shown a lower fatality rate in previous outbreaks than Ebola Zaire, a strain that killed nearly 2,300 people in the 2018-2020 epidemic in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.