A FOUR-YEAR-OLD child has died of Ebola in Uganda, marking the second fatality in the ongoing outbreak declared on January 30.
The child passed away on Tuesday after testing positive for the viral disease and being treated at Mulago Hospital’s isolation unit in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
A Ugandan doctor vaccinates a contact of an Ebola patient with a trial vaccine at Mulago Guest House.[/caption]
The child passed away at the Mulago Hospital in Uganda’s capital, Kampala.[/caption]
The hemorrhagic disease, known for its horrific symptoms like bleeding from the eyes, has already been flagged by health chiefs as a “priority pathogen” with pandemic potential.
The victim – a boy, according to The New York Times – had been taken to three different hospitals while unwell.
His three siblings were reportedly ill but have recovered, to child’s father said in documents seen by the paper.
The boy’s mother and her newborn infant died of unknown causes in January, it added.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the death on Saturday and has since ramped up efforts in surveillance and contact tracing.
Uganda had hoped the outbreak was under control after eight Ebola patients were discharged in February, but this new death raises concerns.
In total, there are now 10 confirmed cases of the disease in the east African country, including two deaths.
The first known fatality, a 32-year-old nurse, was reported in late January.
He experienced fever-like symptoms, sought care at multiple facilities and consulted a traditional healer before dying.
The Ebola strain responsible for the nurse’s death and the outbreak is the Sudan strain, while the strain affecting the child has not yet been confirmed.
It is the most contagious but least deadly variant – although it still kills around 50 per cent of those it infects.
With no approved vaccines for the Sudan strain of Ebola, contact tracing is crucial to prevent more infections.
However, since the most recent outbreak, experts have launched a trial of a vaccine against the strain.
In early February the initial participant received a dose of the vaccine, which was developed by the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, a global non-profit organisation.
Local health officials were hopeful after successfully treating contacts of the nurse, but the source of the outbreak is still under investigation.
WHO is helping by screening over 20,000 travellers daily at Uganda’s border points.
However, funding challenges are affecting the response.
The US recently cut 60 per cent of foreign aid contracts, including a multi-million dollar contract with Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, which had been helping with Ebola surveillance.
Local officials are adjusting to the new situation but acknowledge the impact of their efforts.
There are now 10 confirmed cases of Ebola in Uganda, including two deaths.[/caption]
Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids or contaminated materials.
It is a severe, often fatal illness that can cause symptoms like fever, vomiting blood and diarrhoea, and uncontrolled bleeding from various body parts in the later stages.
Uganda has faced multiple outbreaks of Ebola, including one in 2022 that killed 55 people and a previous one in 2000, that killed hundreds.
This latest outbreak is part of a broader trend of viral hemorrhagic fevers in East Africa, with Tanzania and Rwanda also reporting Marburg outbreaks recently.
What is Ebola?
Ebola is a virus transmitted through direct contact with blood and body fluids and objects that have been contaminated by someone with Ebola.
It also spreads through contact with sick or dead wild animals.
It can take symptoms two to 21 days to appear following infection – this is known as an incubation period.
Ebola first manifests as a high fever, intense muscle and joint pain, headaches and a sore throat.
Initial symptoms are often followed by vomiting and diarrhoea, rashes on the skin, kidney and liver failure, and sometimes internal and external bleeding.
People who survive the virus can suffer from arthritis as well as vision and hearing problems.
Some types of Ebola can be prevented with vaccines and treated with medicines.
Source: World Health Organisation
Ebola was discovered in 1976 in simultaneous outbreaks in South Sudan and Congo, where it occurred in a village near the Ebola River, after which the disease is named.
The disease is among several other on the WHO’s watch list along with dengue and the bubonic plague of pathogens that could trigger the next pandemic.
The list was put together by 200 scientists from more than 50 countries after reviewing a shortlist of 1,600 bacterium and viruses.
Those marked as having ‘pandemic potential’ were easy to catch and potentially deadly in humans.
Scientists say urban sprawl and deforestation are driving up risky wildlife encounters, while global travel is giving diseases a free pass to spread across the globe.
There is also concern that climate change could be making parts of the world more suitable for disease-spreading critters to thrive.
