Uganda has confirmed a new outbreak of the Ebola virus in its capital, Kampala, marking the first such case since 2022. The Health Ministry reported that the first confirmed patient, a male nurse at the Mulago National Referral Hospital, died on January 29, 2025, after being admitted to the facility with severe symptoms. Initially, the patient had sought treatment at several medical facilities, including Mulago, and even consulted a traditional healer, before his condition worsened.
The nurse suffered multi-organ failure, and post-mortem tests confirmed that he was infected with the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus. The Health Ministry has identified 44 individuals who may have been in contact with the deceased, including 30 healthcare workers. Authorities are now focused on tracing these contacts to prevent further spread of the virus.
However, the task of contact tracing in Kampala could prove difficult. With a population of over 4 million people, the city is not only densely populated but also a hub for transportation to other countries such as South Sudan, Congo, and Rwanda, further complicating efforts to contain the outbreak.
Ebola is a highly contagious viral infection that spreads through contact with the bodily fluids or tissue of an infected person. Its symptoms include fever, headaches, muscle pain, vomiting blood, and, in severe cases, bleeding. Although Uganda has had previous outbreaks of the virus, it has developed considerable expertise in handling such crises, which has allowed the country to control outbreaks in relatively short periods of time.
The latest outbreak marks the country’s ninth since the first recorded Ebola infection in 2000. Uganda’s health authorities have deployed a combination of laboratory testing, patient care, contact tracing, and other measures that have proven effective in the past. The last Ebola outbreak in Uganda, which occurred in late 2022, was declared over on January 11, 2023. During that outbreak, 143 people were infected, and 55 of them died, including six healthcare workers.
The nurse who succumbed to the disease also visited a public hospital in Mbale, located 240 km east of Kampala, near the border with Kenya, before his hospitalization in the capital. Authorities have immediately begun vaccination efforts for all individuals who had close contact with the deceased, although there is currently no approved vaccine for the Sudan strain of Ebola.
During the last outbreak, Uganda had received some trial doses of a vaccine to fight the Sudan strain, but it has not yet received formal approval. Health officials are using the available resources to try to mitigate the spread of the virus, but the lack of a proven vaccine for this particular strain remains a major challenge.
In addition to the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, another virus-related crisis is unfolding in neighboring Tanzania, where an outbreak of Marburg, a viral hemorrhagic fever related to Ebola, was declared just last week.
As Uganda grapples with this fresh Ebola outbreak, it is drawing on the experience gained from previous incidents, as well as its improved healthcare infrastructure, to contain the virus and prevent a larger-scale epidemic. However, the challenge of managing an outbreak in a densely populated urban area like Kampala remains a significant concern.
