NewsDesk @bactiman63

Something we at the website have been counting down for the past few weeks (HERE, HERE), Uganda’s Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero made official in a tweet this morning–“Congratulations to team Uganda. The country is officially declared Ebola free”.

Uganda today declared the end of the Ebola disease outbreak caused by Sudan ebolavirus, less than four months after the first case was confirmed in the country’s central Mubende district on 20 September 2022. 

“Uganda put a swift end to the Ebola outbreak by ramping up key control measures such as surveillance, contact tracing and infection, prevention and control. While we expanded our efforts to put a strong response in place across the nine affected districts, the magic bullet has been our communities who understood the importance of doing what was needed to end the outbreak, and took action,” said Dr  Aceng Ocero.

According to the World Health Organization, it was the country’s first Sudan ebolavirus outbreak in a decade and its fifth overall for this kind of Ebola. In total there were 164 cases (142 confirmed and 22 probable), 55 confirmed deaths and 87 recovered patients. More than 4000 people who came in contact with confirmed cases were followed up and their health monitored for 21 days. Overall, the case-fatality ratio was 47%. The last patient was released from care on 30 November when the 42-day countdown to the end of the outbreak began.

This Ebola outbreak was caused by the Sudan ebolavirus, one of six species of the Ebola virus against which no therapeutics and vaccines have been approved yet. However, Uganda’s long experience in responding to epidemics allowed the country to rapidly strengthen critical areas of the response and overcome the lack of these key tools.

Subscribe to Outbreak News TV

Although the outbreak in Uganda has been declared over, health authorities are maintaining surveillance and are ready to respond quickly to any flare-ups. A follow-up program has been put in place to support survivors. Neighboring countries remain on alert and are encouraged to continue strengthening their capacities to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.