Vaccination not possible: Ebola cases in Uganda are increasing

An Ebola variant that is old is spreading in Uganda. However, there is no vaccination. The fear of infection is great: children do not go to school, protective clothing is missing in the health system.

The classroom is almost empty. Only a few students are sitting in the first pews. The others have stayed at home since cases of Ebola were discovered in the Mubende region of central Uganda, deputy principal Robert Kasirye told the AP news agency: “Actually we have 692 students. But because of Ebola there are now only 16. The parents are afraid that their children could become infected.”

The first death from the virus disease was registered in the region a good two weeks ago. A 24-year-old man was taken to the hospital with a high fever and other symptoms and died a few days later.

The virus was unequivocally detected in him, but he may not have been the first victim of the disease, says the head of the clinic, Paul Batiibwe: “We check whether there have been previously undiagnosed cases. That happens at the beginning of Epidemics more frequent. Our second major concern is that all contacts now need to be tracked down and screened.”

The health system is overloaded

The information on the number of deaths varies from the Ugandan Ministry of Health. What is certain is that at least eight other people have now died from Ebola. In addition, there are more than a dozen deaths in which the infection has not been clearly proven.

The health system is overburdened, complains Irene Nakasiita from the Red Cross in Uganda: “We don’t have the capacities that are needed now. We have to make sure that we don’t endanger our own health by finding protective clothing. At the same time, however, we have to go to the Communities help because people are counting on us.”

Virus variant around fifty years old

Ebola outbreaks in neighboring Congo have recently been brought under control again and again. But in Uganda it is a different virus variant that first appeared in Sudan in the 1970s. There is no vaccination against them yet. About half of those infected die. Nevertheless, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said he was unconcerned in a speech: “I want to assure all Ugandans that the government is able to get this outbreak under control, as we have done before,” he says. There is no reason to panic. That is why schools, markets and houses of worship would not be closed.

However, he hardly calmed people down. The empty classrooms show this clearly.