Uganda declares end of Ebola disease outbreak: WHO

Tags: International News

According to the statement released by the World Health Organization (WHO) Uganda declared the end of the Ebola disease outbreak caused by Sudan ebolavirus on Jan 11, 2023.

An overview of the news

• Uganda has managed to bring the outbreak to an end in less than four months after the first case was confirmed on September 20, 2022, in Central Mubende District.

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)

• Formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, it is a rare, severe and fatal disease in humans.

• The Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

• The first case of the disease was reported in Guinea in December 2013. Later, the disease spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Transmission of disease

• The virus is transmitted from wild animals to people and through human-to-human transmission (zoonotic nature) to human populations.

Symptoms of the disease

• Fever, fatigue, muscle aches, headache, and sore throat.

• This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, liver and kidney dysfunction, and in some cases, internal and external bleeding.

Treatment of the disease

• The Arvebo vaccine has been shown to be effective in protecting people from the Zaire ebolavirus species.

• Remdesivir was also tested as an Ebola treatment.