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International alarm as Ebola strain with no vaccine spreads in Uganda

A suspected Ebola patient rests on the bed at Madudu Health center 3 waiting to be transferred to an isolation unit in Mubende, Uganda - BADRU KATUMBA/AFP via Getty Images
A suspected Ebola patient rests on the bed at Madudu Health center 3 waiting to be transferred to an isolation unit in Mubende, Uganda - BADRU KATUMBA/AFP via Getty Images

Cases of an Ebola strain for which there is no life saving vaccine are surging in rural Uganda in an outbreak that has raised international alarm.

The highly contagious fever, which causes patients to vomit blood, is spreading across communities along a key road leading from the capital Kampala to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Trainees doctors have gone on strike because of a lack of equipment and infected patients are reportedly escaping from medical facilities.

The hemorrhagic fever is the Ebola Sudanese variant, which has no known vaccine and has had a death rate in past outbreaks of anywhere between 41 and 100 per cent.

Experts warned that the current outbreak, while still small, has the potential to spread dangerously to the capital and abroad.

From 2014 to 2016, the virus killed more than 11,000 people across Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Flights were grounded and the region was cut off from the outside world for months on end.

“The risks harken back to what we saw in 2014 in West Africa. If you have a virus that is spreading through the population quickly and moving to new locations, it can get out of control quickly. This is also a virus that can put a great deal of pressure on regional healthcare services,” said Professor Jason Kindrachuk, an Ebola expert at the University of Manitoba in Canada.

When the outbreak was declared last Tuesday near Mubende town in Central Uganda, there were seven suspected infections spread across a few villages.

Now there are at least 36 cases and 23 confirmed or probable deaths spread over an area of about 120 km, according to the Ugandan Ministry of Health.

One medical student reportedly died after caring for a baby infected with Ebola. After the death, all of Mubende regional hospital's interns – including nurses, doctors and pharmacists – have gone on strike because of a lack of protective equipment or health insurance.

“Most times you come into contact with a patient and you use your bare hands,” one worker told reporters.

Seven contact cases, including one person who was believed to be infected, escaped before authorities could put them in an isolation centre over the weekend.

A local headmaster told Ugandan media that one of his students had died of a suspected Ebola infection and that he had asked more than 20 of his students who had attended the funeral to stay away from class.

Members of the Ugandan Medical staff of the Ebola Treatment Unit stand inside the ward in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Mubende Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda on September 24, 2022 - BADRU KATUMBA/AFP via Getty Images
Members of the Ugandan Medical staff of the Ebola Treatment Unit stand inside the ward in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Mubende Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda on September 24, 2022 - BADRU KATUMBA/AFP via Getty Images

Global spread fears

Doctors must undergo huge risks when fighting the disease. If any bodily fluids – a drop of saliva or vomit – from an infected patient get in their mouth or eye, there is a serious chance of an agonising death.

Countries like Uganda and DR Congo are no strangers to treating isolated Ebola outbreaks and have developed world-beating expertise in treating them.

However, the current outbreak is a relatively rare form of the disease known as the Sudan strain. While there is a vaccine for the standard Zaire strain which has been instrumental in halting several outbreaks in DR Congo, no vaccine has been approved to combat the Sudan strain.

If it did reach Kampala, a metropolis of more than 3.5m, it could have dramatic international implications. While Uganda has no direct flights to the UK it has strong links across Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

The World Health Organization warned that the “risk of international spread cannot be ruled out due to the active cross-border population movement”.

“The optimism I have here is that we’ve got a country which has had prior experience with this virus and outbreak response, as well as regional partners – the DR Congo – which can readily provide and expertise,” added Prof Kindrachuk.

“There are also international partners that can act quickly on health crises like this. But there is always this question. How quickly can we get infected individuals identified and located as well as their contacts?”

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