The Ebola outbreak in Uganda is under control and could be declared over in the next few days, as it had been 39 days since the last case of the virus was reported, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“It has been 39 days since the last confirmed case,” said Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, acting head of the health authority, as cited by the media, adding: “If there are no new cases reported by 10 January, the outbreak will be over.”
He was referring to the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), according to which a country needs to wait 42 days - equivalent to two incubation periods - to be sure Ebola has been eradicated.
He also praised the Ugandan government for how well coordinated the restriction and containment measures were to stop the spread of the virus, saying it took about 70 days to get the situation under control. He mentioned that vaccine trials against the strain are now underway.
The WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at a recent media briefing on 4 January made mention of how the Ebola outbreak in Uganda was progressing and said that it is "good news”.
"In other good news, Ebola in Uganda has not been detected since 27 November. If this holds and there are no cases by 11 January, the outbreak will be declared over," he stated.
The most recent Ebola outbreak in Uganda was declared on 20 September. The variation of the ebolavirus that broke out in the country is the Sudan strain, which is less prevalent in Africa than the Zaire strain. This is the first time in more than a decade that Uganda reported an outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus.
As of now, according to the WHO, the Case Fatality Ratio among confirmed cases stands at 39 percent with at least 142 cases and 55 deaths. There are at present no active contacts under follow-up.
In early December, the last-known patient was discharged from hospital. During the same month, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni lifted all Ebola-related restrictions imposed in response to the outbreak, reflecting progress in the disease control and containing its spread.
The WHO has recently delivered 1,200 doses of candidate vaccines against the Sudan strain. It was the first batch of the candidate vaccine delivered to the country. The UN health body recommended three potential vaccines for a clinical trial called “Tokomeza Ebola” which include the Oxford, Sabin, and Merck trial vaccines.