Uganda Ebola outbreak grows to more than 60 cases, 882 contacts and a fourth district

On Oct. 2, the Ugandan Ministry of Health reported via Twitter that 882 contacts were being evaluated, with two new cases diagnosed with Sudan ebolavirus over the prior day, and 43 laboratory-confirmed cases. Thus, with the previous 19 probable cases, a total of 62 confirmed and probable cases have been identified.

On Oct. 1, WHO’s Regional Office for Africa reported on Twitter that a fourth district, Kagadi, in western Uganda (away from Kampala) had joined Mubende, Kassanda and Kyegegwa in reporting cases:

Also on Oct. 1, Uganda officials met in the capital, Kampala, to set priorities and needs in the Ebola outbreak response, according to a WHO update on the response. The update noted:

“There are at least six candidate vaccines against Sudan ebolavirus which are in different stages of development. Three of them have Phase 1 data (safety and immunogenicity data in humans) and the remaining are in the preclinical evaluation phase.”

Two of the leading candidate vaccines appear to be one from the Sabin Institute in the USA (with support from NIAID/NIH/HHS) and one from the U.K.’s University of Oxford.

Meanwhile, suspected cases have been reported in Kenya and South Sudan, but no cases of Sudan ebolavirus outside of Uganda have been confirmed so far. Samples from three patients in South Sudan suspected of having Ebola have been sent to South Africa for laboratory testing.