The young child died of the Ebola virus in Uganda. Uganda is the second victim of the outbreak announced in late January, the health ministry said on Saturday.
On Tuesday, the East African country confirmed it had recorded 10 cases of the Sudan Ebola strain of the often fatal virus.
On Saturday, it announced that “additional positive cases” had been detected in Murago.
The deceased, a child of four and a half years, said he was a “resident of Kibrio linked to a major cluster in the capital (Kampala).”
Authorities said on February 19 that the outbreak, first announced on January 30, was “contained” after eight known infected people were treated and recovered.
A total of 265 others have been “in quarantined for surveillance” at hospitals in Kampala and in the eastern city of Mbar after contacting a nurse who passed away in late January.
This is the sixth outbreak of Sudan Ebola in Uganda and is a strain of the virus without an approved vaccine.
Strain vaccination trials began in the country earlier this month. It was praised by the World Health Organization as the “fastest rollout” of Ebola vaccine trials during the epidemic.
Ebola is transmitted between people through body fluids. Infected individuals are not contagious until the appearance of symptoms (mainly fever, vomiting, bleeding, diarrhea) that occur after a 2-21-day incubation period.
The previous Ebola outbreak in Uganda lasted four months in 2022 and 2023, claiming 55 lives.
WHO estimates that the most fatal outbreak of hemorrhagic fever occurred in West Africa between 2013 and 2016, killing more than 11,300 people.
Over 15,000 people in Africa have died in Ebola in the past half century.