Ebola case: body of confirmed case sent back to DRC

The Ministry  of Health, has confirmed that the body of the deceased Ebola case from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Kasese district has been sent back for burial.

According to Minister of State for Health in Charge of Primary Health Care, Joyce Moriku Kaducu, the imported case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), was a nine year old female from DRC who traveled from DRC with her mother to seek medical care in Uganda.

She said five contacts were listed for follow up, three shared the hospital Ebola treatment unit (ETU) with confirmed case on the  August 28, 2019, while two were attendants to patients in the ETU. All these five are Congolese and were transported in the same ambulance with the confirmed case from Mpondwe to Bwera hospital Ebola treatment unit.

The child was put under isolation at Bwera, however, upon the request of the government of the DRC, both mother and child were to be repatriated back to the DRC to receive treatment from there.

“By Thursday evening, four of these contacts had been taken back to DRC for vaccination and effective follow up.  The fifth contact who is the mother to the confirmed case is scheduled to return to DRC for burial of her deceased daughter.” She said

The minister reassured all Ugandans and non-Ugandans that her ministry has full capacity to contain Ebola and cautioned people to be vigilant and report all suspected cases to the nearby health center.

“As part of our preparedness, Ministry of Health has vaccinated over 8,000 individuals against EVD in all Ebola high risk districts in Uganda. Currently, a total of 300 doses of EVD vaccines have been delivered to Kasese . These will be used to vaccinate any possible contacts and contacts of contacts.