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- Uganda has detected the rare Sudan strain of Ebola, for which there is no vaccine available.
- Uganda's health ministry says it's dealing with a complex situation and expects more cases.
- Eighteen people are suspected to have contracted the disease.
The World Health Organisation has found that the Ebola that recently broke out in Uganda, called the Sudan strain, is not as lethal as the Zaire strain found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Last week, Uganda announced that it had detected the rare Sudan strain in a 24-year-old man from the Mubende. The man died later.
Since then, the caseload has risen to 16, with four deaths as of Sunday.
From contact tracing, 18 people are suspected to have contracted the disease.
WHO's Health Emergency Officer, Acute Events Management Unit, Dr Patrick Otim said the Sudan strain was not as lethal as the DRC one, which in a space of eight months has accounted for two outbreaks in the DRC.
READ | WHO, DRC monitoring 160 people in latest Ebola outbreak
"When we compare the Ebola Sudan which is what we have now in Uganda, and the Zaire Ebola - which has recently been also confirmed in the DRC - it is noted from previous outbreaks that the Ebola Sudan is less transmissible," he said.
He added that it also had a lower mortality rate than the Zaire strain.
He added:
Ebola Sudan was introduced as a new strain of the virus in 1977.
Since its discovery in 1976, it has accounted for 416 deaths out of 768 cases, representing a 54.16% mortality rate.
The Ugandan health ministry's national incident manager (for Ebola), Henry Kyobe Bosa, said the first three days of the outbreak had "shown us that this is a rapidly evolving picture".
He called the situation "very complex", adding that they were expecting the number of cases to rise over the next few days.
Since its discovery, the 2000-2001 outbreaks in the areas of Gulu, Mbarara, and Masindi Districts were the most lethal, with 425 cases and a mortality rate of 53%.
There's no vaccine available yet for the Sudan strain.
"Good supportive care can improve survival and severe viral infections by protecting against organ injury if we are able to start the treatment early because good supportive care is available right now and, when started early, it can save lives," said Dr William Fischer, the director of Emerging Pathogens for Global Health and Infectious Disease.
According to him, that's one of the lessons they had learned in the past decade when dealing with Ebola.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
