The government of Uganda has remained silent regarding an outbreak of Marburg virus that was disclosed late last month, according to the World Health Organization. Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, stated during a press conference that the agency has submitted multiple requests for information about the investigation into the outbreak’s origins and scope but has not yet received responses from Ugandan health authorities.
The WHO has formally submitted requests for updates through the International Health Regulations, a treaty mechanism that obligates countries to report disease threats with cross-border potential. Marburg is a viral hemorrhagic fever related to Ebola viruses and produces similar disease manifestations with comparably high fatality rates, though recorded Marburg outbreaks have remained smaller in scale than major Ebola epidemics. The largest documented Marburg outbreak occurred in Angola in 2004-2005, resulting in 252 cases and 227 deaths.
The outbreak became public in late June when the U.S. embassy in Kampala issued an alert regarding reports of a Marburg case in Western Uganda. Uganda’s health ministry subsequently confirmed to the WHO that a case had been diagnosed in a baby residing in a displaced person’s camp. A source familiar with the situation indicated that two cases had actually been confirmed at the outbreak’s outset, though Uganda has not publicly confirmed a second case or provided additional details.
In concurrent developments, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the final confirmed Ebola case in Uganda had been discharged from hospital, initiating a 42-day monitoring period toward declaring the country Ebola-free. Uganda has recorded 20 Ebola cases during the current outbreak, either among individuals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who entered the country already infected or their subsequent contacts. By contrast, the DRC’s Ebola outbreak continues to escalate, with confirmed cases approaching 2,100 and approximately 800 deaths recorded. Declared two months prior to this reporting, the outbreak ranks as the third largest on record and has expanded at a faster rate than previous episodes, hampered by community resistance to seeking treatment.
Originally reported by STAT News. Read the full story →