Four health workers are among 10 people who have died after an Ebola outbreak in Uganda that is being monitored by US and UK health authorities.
The eastern African nation will host a ministerial meeting on the outbreak of the Sudan strain of the virus, which has no proven vaccine and has caused alarm in the region.
Acting director Ahmed Ogwell told journalists on Thursday the three countries that suffered the west Africa outbreak of Ebola in 2014-16, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, also are invited to the meeting taking place on Wednesday next week.
Ugandan scientists and their partners abroad are looking to deploy one of two possible vaccines against the Sudan strain of Ebola, the World Health Organisation representative to Uganda told reporters Thursday. But there are only 100 doses of the vaccine from the Sabin Vaccine Insitute, said Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam.
“These manufacturers are looking to produce more,” he said. “We do not have sufficient data to deploy it in a large [population] and the supply is not there.
“Currently the scientists are agreeing [on] scientific protocol for the study and as soon as the protocol is agreed … I think the vaccine will be imported into Uganda. Hopefully within less than a week.”
Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that killed more than 200 people.
There have been no Ebola cases from the outbreak reported outside Uganda. However the United States will begin screening travellers from the country as a precaution, the Biden administration said on Thursday.
The risk in the US is considered low and health officials described the screening move as an additional precaution.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said it is currently monitoring the outbreak and confirmed there are currently no cases of the disease in the UK.
Dr Meera Chand, UKHSA director of clinical and emerging infection, said: “UKHSA constantly monitors emerging infection threats in collaboration with partners across the world.
“We are aware of an outbreak of Ebola cases in Uganda and are monitoring the situation closely. The risk to the public in the UK is very low.”
Ebola is mainly spread through contact with blood and other bodily fluids of an infected person who is sick or has died. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain and sometimes bleeding.
Additional reporting by AP
