Next Ebola Outbreak ‘Not a Matter of If, but When’

Uganda used public health measures like screening, testing of temperatures, and isolation of suspected cases to contain the Ebola outbreak. While those measures were successful, scientists warn that another outbreak could occur. Credit: Wambi Michael/IPSBy Wambi MichaelKAMPALA & MUBENDE, Mar 10 2023 (IPS) It is two months since the World Health Organization declared Uganda free of the most recent Sudan ebolavirus, which killed 55 people. Uganda employed public health measures to end the outbreak. In the absence of vaccines and therapeutics, the threat of the next outbreak looms. Scientists are yet to find answers to questions like who was the first person to be affected? Or the index case, what viral host reservoir did that patient get in contact with? “We don’t have answers to those questions. And honestly, we are hoping that Uganda will provide us and the world with those answers,” says Emmy Bore, program director for the CDC’s Division of Global Health Protection in Uganda. “In every Ebola outbreak we have responded to, in West Africa, in DRC, there have been attempts to trace the roots back to the very first person who got infected. When you figure out where that person went and what they ate, you can figure out how they managed to get the virus. In most outbreaks, we don’t,” she said. With those questions answered, Lt Colonel Dr Kyobe Henry Bossa, who has been at the front lines against Ebola outbreaks and COVID-19, told IPS that it is urgent they track pr...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Editors' Choice Environment Featured Headlines Health TerraViva United Nations IPS UN Bureau IPS UN Bureau Report Uganda Source Type: news