CDC Issues Health Advisory Alert Regarding Outbreak of Ebola in Uganda

The CDC has issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory about a “recently confirmed outbreak of Ebola disease in Uganda caused by the Sudan virus.”

As of this writing, there are no suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola outside of Uganda related to this outbreak. CDC issued a Travel Health Notice Level 2 for people traveling to Uganda in response. The patient who contracted the Sudan virus (SVD) was a 32-year-old man who worked as a nurse. He died on January 29.

CDC is “communicating with public health departments, public health and clinical laboratories, and healthcare workers in the United States and educating travelers to raise awareness of this outbreak,” as a precaution. Ebola patients are not contagious until symptoms appear, including “fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, gastrointestinal symptoms, and unexplained bleeding. Ebola disease is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the body fluids (blood, urine, feces, saliva, droplet, semen, or other secretions) of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola disease. Ebola disease is also spread by infected animals, or through direct contact with objects like needles that are contaminated with the virus. Ebola disease is not spread through airborne transmission.” No FDA-approved vaccine exists.

The notice from CDC includes recommendations for clinicians, public health departments, clinical laboratory biosafety, and the public.