The Ebola outbreak in Uganda is finally over.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Wednesday that the Government of Uganda has officially marked the tip of the outbreak within the country.
It has been exactly 42 days or two incubation periods for the reason that country reported the last case of Ebola in its territory. The outbreak is claimed to have ended since no latest case was reported up to now six weeks.
“I commend the Government of Uganda, local health staff, and global public health partners who worked to finish the country’s Ebola outbreak,” CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H. said in a media release.
“Our heartfelt sympathies are with the individuals who lost family members to this disease. CDC stays committed to partnering with the Ugandan Ministry of Health in support of survivor programs and in helping strengthen global preparedness and response capacities that may prevent or extinguish future Ebola outbreaks,” Walensky added.
Ebola causes the Ebola virus disease or EVD, a rare but severe and infrequently fatal illness affecting humans and nonhuman primates, including monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees.
In accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO), the virus is transmitted to humans from wild animals. It then spreads via human-to-human transmission.
First discovered in 1976, the virus spreads in humans via direct contact with the blood and body fluids of an infected person, in addition to objects contaminated with body fluids from a sick person.
The incubation period of EVD, or the time it takes from infection to the onset of symptoms, takes 2 to 21 days. The disease causes various symptoms, including fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat within the early phase. Patients eventually develop vomiting, diarrhea, rash and other symptoms typical of impaired kidney and liver function, as per WHO.
The CDC said in its media release that it will proceed to support Uganda in monitoring the virus and implementing infection prevention and response activities to assist detect and reply to future cases and outbreaks.
Meanwhile, the U.S. will now not implement entry screening and public health monitoring of travelers who’ve been in Uganda for the past 21 days starting this week in response to the CDC’s announcement.