Outbreak at a glance

On 20 September 2022, Uganda health authorities declared an outbreak of Ebola disease, caused by Sudan virus, following laboratory confirmation of a patient from a village in Madudu sub-county, Mubende district, central Uganda.

As of 25 September 2022, a cumulative number of 18 confirmed and 18 probable cases have been reported from Mubende, Kyegegwa and Kassanda districts, including 23 deaths, of which five were among confirmed cases (CFR among confirmed cases 28%). This is the first Ebola disease outbreak caused by Sudan virus (SUDV) in Uganda since 2012.

Description of the outbreak

On 20 September 2022, the health authorities in Uganda declared an outbreak of Ebola disease caused by Sudan virus (SUDV), after a case was confirmed in a village of Madudu sub-county in Mubende district, central Uganda.

The case was a 24-year-old male who developed a wide range of symptoms on 11 September including high-grade fever, tonic convulsions, blood-stained vomit and diarrhoea, loss of appetite, pain while swallowing, chest pain, dry cough and bleeding in the eyes. He visited two private clinics, successively between 11-13 and 13-15 September without improvement. He was then referred to the Regional Referral Hospital (RRH) on 15 September where he was isolated as a suspected case of viral haemorrhagic fever. A blood sample was collected on 17 September and sent to the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Kampala where RT- PCR tests conducted were positive for SUDV on 19 September. On the same day, the patient died.