The African CDC Calls Ebola Outbreaks In Uganda Still Controllable, Doesn't Need Emergency Actions

Illustration of Ebola patient care facilities. (Wikimedia Commons/Daniel Bausch/Division of Viral and Rickettial Diseases/National Center for Infectious Diseases)

JAKARTA - Africa's leading public health agency said on Thursday there was a risk the Ebola outbreak in Uganda could spread but could still be managed at this stage and emergency measures were not needed.

"The risk is there but it is a manageable risk," Ahmed Oguwell Ouma, acting director of the CDC Africa (African Center for Disease Control and Prevention), told reporters at an online briefing.

Ouma added, at this stage there is no need to enter the "full emergency measure."

As previously reported, the World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about an increase in the spread of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, after eight recent cases of Ebola reportedly unknown had links to current patients.

A WHO briefing said preliminary investigations into cases by the Ugandan Ministry of Health showed they were not contacts of people who were already known to have Ebola.

"We remain concerned, there may be more chain of transmission and more contact than we know in the communities affected," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The WHO said there were 60 confirmed cases and 20 likely since the Ebola outbreak in Uganda began last month. Meanwhile, the death toll was recorded at 44 people.

It is known that the Ebola strain that spreads in Uganda is the Sudanese strain. Vaccines and existing therapies are known to be unable to deal with the strain.

However, the Ugandan government is working with WHO to conduct a trial of two vaccines in the early stages of development targeting the Sudanese strain.