The CDC has asked doctors to begin evaluating Americans for Ebola out of fear the disease has made its way into the country.
The Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory was issued after an Ebola outbreak was confirmed in Uganda on January 30.
On January 29, a 32-year-old nurse working at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in the capital city Kampala died from Ebola.
Forty-four people have been identified as close contacts, including 30 healthcare workers and patients at the hospital where he worked.
But health officials say they are ‘in full control of the situation.’
Additionally, the CDC confirmed there have been no cases of Ebola detected in the US.
The agency said in a statement: ‘Currently, no suspected, probable, or confirmed Ebola cases related to this outbreak have been reported in the United States, or outside of Uganda.’
But, as part of the advisory, the agency also issued a Level 2 travel alert for Uganda, encouraging travelers to practice enhanced precautions.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked doctors and health experts to start revewing Americans for the Ebola virus infections
As a part of the advisory, the agency also issued a Level 2 travel alert, which encourages travelers to practice enhanced precautions
According to the alert, travelers should get travel insurance, avoid contact with sick people and avoid bodily fluids from people who have recovered from the disease.
The alert also asks people to not visit healthcare facilities in the affected areas for nonurgent and nonmedical reasons and urged Americans to avoid contact with wild animals.
In the several days before his death, the deceased Ugandan nurse had developed high fever, chest pain, difficulty in breathing and bleeding from multiple body sites.
He had sought treatment at multiple health facilities including Mulago Referral Hospital in Kampala, Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Matugga in Wakiso District, and Mbale Regional Referral Hospital in Mbale City – but did not recover.
According to the CDC, he also sought treatment from a traditional healer.
The agency said post-mortem samples were tested and confirmed Ebola.
World Health Organization officials noted this week the ‘extensive travel’ of the infected person, who visited a number of medical facilities while symptomatic, was ‘increasing the risk of widespread transmission.’
Ebola is spread through contact with contaminated materials or bodily fluids of a sick person.
It primarily occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, which has seen outbreaks that have claimed over 15,000 lives since it was first identified in 1976 in Uganda.
The new outbreak in Kampala marks Uganda’s ninth total outbreak.
It comes after Tanzania declared an outbreak of Marburg virus, an Ebola-like infection with a fatality rate as high as 90 percent. Two people have died.
A secure and private burial of the nurse will be arranged to reduce the risk of disease transmission.
Additionally, vaccinations of all individuals who had contact with the deceased nurse, particularly those in close proximity, will begin immediately.
The average death rate of Ebola is 50 percent, though in some outbreaks, up to 90 percent of sick people have died.
Ebola is highly contagious, and a person remains contagious even after they die.
The incubation period for Ebola – meaning the time after infection and before symptoms appear – is two to 21 days – but people are not contagious until they start displaying symptoms.
Since the first recorded outbreak in Uganda in 1976, Ebola has repeatedly emerged across sub-Saharan Africa, affecting regions in the west, east, and central parts of the continent.
The most devastating outbreak occurred between 2014 and 2016, claiming over 10,000 lives, primarily in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
The second-largest outbreak, which took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2018 to 2020, resulted in more than 2,000 deaths.
Though health officials say they have the situation handled, Kampala is a large city of more than 4million people who could now be at risk of the highly contagious infection.
The CDC has worked in Uganda for decades, helping the country build up lab testing capabilities to detect threatening germs.
The agency established an office in the East African nation 25 years ago and has 114 people onsite.
The CDC has confirmed that they working closely with the Ministry of Health of Uganda to support the response to this outbreak.
Previous outbreaks of the Sudan virus have had a mortality rate of about 50 percent, the agency said.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
