Uganda declared an end to the Ebola virus outbreak this week.
It was caused by the Sudan strain that emerged almost four months ago and claimed the lives of 55 people.
The first case was confirmed in September last year.
“Uganda put a swift end to the Ebola outbreak by ramping up key control measures such as surveillance, contact tracing and infection, prevention and control. While we expanded our efforts to put a strong response in place across the nine affected districts, the magic bullet has been our communities who understood the importance of doing what was needed to end the outbreak, and took action,” said Dr Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, Uganda’s Minister of Health.
In total there were 164 cases (142 confirmed and 22 probable), 55 confirmed deaths and 87 recovered patients.
More than 4 000 people who came in contact with confirmed cases were followed up and their health monitored for 21 days. Overall, the case-fatality ratio was 47%.
The last patient was released from care on November 30 when the 42-day countdown to the end of the outbreak began.
