The nurse had been working at a hospital in Uganda's capital city. (AP: Hajarah Nalwadda)
A nurse in Uganda has died, and dozens of health workers and patients have been identified as contacts in the nation's first Ebola outbreak in two years.
The 32-year-old nurse worked at the Mulago National Specialised Hospital, the main referral facility in Uganda's capital city, Kampala.
After developing a fever, he was treated at several locations in Uganda before multiple lab tests confirmed he had Ebola, Uganda's health ministry permanent secretary Diana Atwine said.
He died on Wednesday.
Post-mortem testing confirmed he had the Sudan strain, Dr Atwine said.
His was Uganda's first recorded Ebola death since the country's last outbreak of the disease ended in early 2023.
Dr Atwine says health authorities are "in full control of the situation". (Reuters: Abubaker Lubowa)
Health workers identified as contacts
The nurse who died had sought treatment at a hospital just outside Kampala and later travelled to Mbale, in the country's east, where he was admitted to a public hospital.
Health authorities said the man also sought the services of a traditional healer.
At least 44 contacts of the victim have been identified, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
Of those, 30 are health workers and patients at Mulago Hospital.
Vaccination against Ebola for all contacts of the deceased would begin immediately, the ministry said.
There is currently no approved vaccine for the Sudan strain of Ebola, though Uganda received some trial vaccine doses during the last outbreak.
Ugandan officials are still investigating the source of the current outbreak.
Dr Atwine urged Ugandans to report any suspected cases, saying health authorities were "in full control of the situation".
Tracing contacts is key to stemming the spread of Ebola.
Kampala's outbreak could prove difficult to respond to because the city has a highly mobile population of about 4 million.
What is Ebola?
Ebola is a deadly haemorrhagic fever.
It's officially called Ebola virus disease but is commonly referred to as simply "Ebola".
Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain and, at times, internal and external bleeding.
Ebola is highly infectious and is spread by contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials.
Ebola was discovered in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks in South Sudan and Congo, where it occurred in a village near the Ebola River, after which the disease is named.
A health worker at an Ebola treatment centre in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019. (Reuters: Baz Ratner)
How deadly is Ebola?
The average fatality rate for Ebola is about 50 per cent, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
But it also says that fatality rates have ranged from 25 per cent to 90 per cent in outbreaks in the past.
"A range of potential treatments including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently being evaluated," the WHO says.
Calls for 'decisive' response
Emmanuel Batiibwe, a physician who helped lead Uganda's efforts to stop the country's 2022 outbreak, told Associated Press he expected a swift response in tracing all possible Ebola contacts in Kampala and elsewhere.
"Our reaction should be swift, decisive and well-coordinated," he said, speaking of lessons learned from the 2022 outbreak, whose epicentre was a town in central Uganda.
"We have the means of responding quickly now."
The WHO will send an initial allocation of $US1 million from a contingency fund to support Uganda's response.
"A full-scale response is being initiated by the government and partners," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a brief statement posted on the social media platform X.
Congo checks possible cases
Democratic Republic of Congo authorities are also investigating 12 possible cases of the deadly Ebola virus in its north-west.
However, the first tests had come up negative, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
The Congo cases under scrutiny, including seven deaths, were in Equateur province, where tropical forests are a natural reservoir for the virus that causes fever, aches and diarrhoea.
"I hope we'll not confirm this outbreak because it will be a lot for this country," Africa CDC director general Jean Kaseya said.
When was Uganda's last Ebola outbreak?
From 2022 to 2023.
Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that killed hundreds.
But Uganda's last outbreak was discovered in September 2022.
At least 55 people died before it was declared over in January 2023.
Uganda's last Ebola outbreak ended in Janaury, 2023. (AP: Hajarah Nalwadda)
Confirmation of Ebola in Uganda is the latest in a trend of outbreaks of viral haemorrhagic fevers in the east African region.
Tanzania declared an outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg disease earlier this month, and in December, Rwanda announced that its outbreak of Marburg was over.
The ongoing Marburg outbreak in northern Tanzania's Kagera region has killed at least two people, according to local health authorities.
The 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people — the disease's largest death toll.
AP/Reuters
