By John Ikani
Uganda has today, declared an end to an Ebola virus outbreak that lasted for four months and resulted in 55 deaths.
Health Minister, Jane Ruth Aceng stated at a ceremony in the central district of Mubende, where the disease was first detected in September, that they were able to successfully control the outbreak.
The outbreak was confirmed to be over by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“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,” the WHO statement quoted the minister as saying.
“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.”
The outbreak which lasted nearly four months, spread to nine districts, including the capital, Kampala, raising fears of its snowballing across the East African region.
It was the worst Ebola outbreak in Uganda in more than two decades, and the second-deadliest in the country’s history, with 142 confirmed cases and 55 deaths, and an additional 22 deaths also linked to the outbreak.
According to the W.H.O. Seven of those who died were health workers.
WHO’s guidelines indicate that an outbreak of the disease ends when there are no new cases for 42 consecutive days – twice the incubation period of Ebola.
Uganda’s outbreak was caused by the Sudan Ebola virus, one of six species of the Ebola virus which currently has no approved vaccines.
