Uganda declares end of 6th Ebola outbreak

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers a speech at the World Health Organization (WHO) HUB. [AFP] Uganda declared the end of an Ebola virus outbreak Saturday, which has killed at least two people in the east African nation since late January. The announcement came 42 days after the discharge of the last confirmed patient from hospital. The outbreak marked the sixth time Uganda was affected by the deadly virus that has six different strains, three of which have caused major epidemics. "During this outbreak, 14 cases, 12 confirmed and two not confirmed through laboratory tests (probable), were reported. Four deaths, two confirmed and two probable, occurred. Ten people recovered from the infection," The World Health Organization said in a statement. The confirmed cases of the Sudan Ebola strain resulted in the death of a four-year-old child and a nurse. Several dozens of people were also monitored after coming in contact with the disease, according to the African Union's health agency (Africa CDC). "The current Ebola Sudan Virus Disease outbreak has officially come to an end," Uganda's health ministry said on X. "This follows 42 days without a new case since the last confirmed patient was discharged on March 14 2025." World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus applauded the health ministry for its "leadership and commitment" in overcoming the outbreak. "Congratulations to the government and health workers of #Uganda on ending the #Ebola outbreak," he said on X on Saturday. There is currently no approved vaccine for the Ebola-Sudan strain. But a vaccination trial for the strain was launched in the country in February. It was praised by the World Health Organization as the "fastest roll-out" of an Ebola vaccine trial in the midst of an epidemic. But the international context for funding such health efforts is proving challenging. In early March, the United Nations launched a call to raise $11.2 million to address this epidemic after the United States announced the cessation of most of its humanitarian aid. Ebola is transmitted between people through body fluids. People who are infected do not become contagious until the appearance of symptoms -- mainly fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea -- which occur after an incubation period of between two and 21 days. More than 15,000 people in Africa have died of Ebola, all six strains combined, in the past half-century.

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