By Walimbwa Moses
Uganda’s Ministry of Health has said the country has no confirmed active Ebola cases following the diagnosis of a patient in Nigeria whose recent travel included Uganda.
The case has prompted investigations into the patient’s movements and possible exposure, with international health officials saying the source of infection remains unresolved.
In its statement issued on 20 October, Uganda’s ministry cautioned against assuming that the patient contracted the virus in the country simply because she had travelled through it.
“Travel through Uganda does not establish that infection occurred here. The location of exposure remains under investigation,” the ministry said, according to the Associated Press.
Ugandan authorities said preliminary information indicated that the patient had visited eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before transiting through Uganda.
However, WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on 22 October that they had not received confirmed information establishing that she had travelled to the DRC.
“So far, there is no validated information that) this case travelled to the DRC,” Reuters quoted Wessam Mankoula, an Africa CDC official, as saying.
Patrick Otim, a WHO emergency response manager, said the source of infection remained unknown as authorities reconstructed the patient’s movements.
Nigeria reported the laboratory-confirmed case in Abuja on 20 October. In an update published the following day, the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said the patient was receiving treatment in isolation. It was reported that 44 close contacts, including healthcare workers and travel contacts, had been identified and were being monitored.
The case comes amid a continuing regional outbreak. The institute’s 19 October update recorded 9,277 confirmed cases and 4,478 deaths in the DRC.
WHO says,’ Ebola symptoms can appear between two and 21 days after infection. Early signs include fever, fatigue, headache, muscle pain and a sore throat, followed in by vomiting and diarrhea.’’
The disease spreads through direct contact with infected blood or other bodily fluids, or materials contaminated with them. People do not transmit Ebola before developing symptoms.
Because early symptoms can resemble malaria and other illnesses, laboratory testing is needed to confirm infection. WHO says early supportive treatment improves survival, while surveillance, contact tracing and infection prevention are essential to controlling outbreaks.
Uganda’s ministry urged the public to remain calm, follow official health updates and promptly report suspected symptoms to health workers as investigations continue.