The declaration from Uganda’s government and the World Health Organization announcing the end of the Ebola virus outbreak in Uganda is a welcome event and demonstrates how swift action can address and contain emerging public health threats.
Measures taken by the Ugandan government and global community to lead and support the response to the Sudan strain are credited for quickly saving lives, preventing the outbreak from impacting further communities, and traveling across borders. Delivering critical personal protective equipment and supplies, increasing community knowledge of related symptoms, strengthening contact tracing, and additional efforts all contributed to the timely response.
Meanwhile, we also extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by the disease and who have lost loved ones during the outbreak. In a final count, this epidemic involved 164 cases (142 confirmed, 22 probable cases), 55 deaths, and 87 patients who recovered from the disease, yielding a fatality rate of about 47%. This occurrence reinforces the ever-present need for commitments to global health security mechanisms that rapidly detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
Please see background information available on the outbreak here.
