WHO reports at least three Ebola cases in Uganda

The World Health Organization has confirmed the first cases of Ebola in Uganda since 2013, the first involving a 5-year-old boy who became ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo and traveled across the border for treatment before dying. “This is a sobering development that everyone has been working to avoid, and highlights the complexity of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, M.D. “Despite this first case of Ebola in Uganda, officials in DRC and Uganda, alongside partners throughout the international community, are dedicated to bringing the outbreak in Africa to an end.” The current outbreak in the DRC began last August, with at least 2,071 cases and 1,390 deaths. Although the threat of transmission to the U.S. remains very low, the CDC reminded U.S. health care facilities in March to review their infection prevention and control processes for patients with communicable diseases such as Ebola.