CDC

CDC issues warning about Ebola outbreak in Uganda

February 7, 2025

CDC issued a health advisory about a recently confirmed outbreak of Ebola disease in Uganda caused by the Sudan virus (species Orthoebolavirus sudanense). Currently, no suspected, probable, or confirmed Ebola cases related to this outbreak have been reported in the U.S., or outside of Uganda. However, as a precaution and because there are other viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) outbreaks in East Africa, CDC is sharing best practices for public health departments, public health and clinical labs, and healthcare workers in the U.S. to raise awareness about this outbreak.

Background

On January 29, 2025, the Ministry of Health of Uganda officially declared an Ebola outbreak caused by Sudan virus disease (SVD), in the nation’s capital, Kampala. This is the eighth Ebola outbreak in Uganda since 2000. The confirmed case of SVD was in a 32-year-old man who worked as a nurse at the Mulago National Referral Hospital. The man initially developed high fever, chest pain, difficulty in breathing and bleeding from multiple body sites and sought treatment at multiple health facilities, including Mulago Referral Hospital in Kampala, Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital in Matugga in Wakiso District, and Mbale Regional Referral Hospital in Mbale City. He also sought treatment from a traditional healer. The patient died on January 29. Post-mortem samples were tested and confirmed positive for Sudan virus at three national reference laboratories. CDC is working closely with the Ministry of Health of Uganda to support the response to this outbreak.

Recommendations for clinicians

• Systematically assess patients with compatible symptoms for exposure risk and the possibility of VHFs including SVD through a triage and evaluation process including a travel history. Early identification of SVD or other VHFs is important for providing appropriate and prompt patient care and preventing the spread of infection.
• Include SVD in the differential diagnosis for an ill person who has been to an area with an active SVD outbreak in the past 21 days, AND who has compatible symptoms (e.g., fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, gastrointestinal symptoms, or unexplained bleeding), AND who has reported epidemiologically compatible risk factors like one or more of the below, within the 21 days before symptom onset:
  Had direct contact with a symptomatic person with suspected or confirmed SVD (alive or dead), or with any objects contaminated by their body fluids.Experienced a breach in infection prevention and control precautions that resulted in the potential for contact with body fluids of a patient with suspected or confirmed SVD.Participated in any of the following activities while in an area with an active SVD outbreak:
  Had contact with someone who was sick or died or with any objects contaminated by their body fluids.Attended or participated in funeral rituals, including preparing bodies for funeral or burial.Visited or worked in a healthcare facility or laboratory.Had contact with cave-dwelling bats or non-human primates.Worked or spent time in a mine or cave.
  Consider and perform testing for more common diagnoses such as malaria, COVID-19, influenza, or common causes of gastrointestinal and febrile illnesses in an acutely ill patient with recent international travel and evaluate and manage the patient appropriately.Know that patients with SVD may present with concurrent infections (e.g., co-infection with malaria), and the possibility of a concurrent infection should be considered if a patient has a clinical and epidemiologic history compatible with SVD. Travel to or from Uganda during the past 21 days should not be a reason to defer routine laboratory testing or other measures necessary for standard patient care.Isolate and manage patients with exposure risks and symptoms compatible with SVD in a healthcare facility until receiving a negative SVD test result on a sample collected ≥ 72 hours after symptom onset. If a sample collected is <72 hours after symptom onset and is negative, the patient should remain isolated in the healthcare facility and another test should be performed on a new sample taken ≥ 72 hours after initial symptom onset. Routine laboratory testing to monitor the patient’s clinical status and diagnostic testing for other potential causes of the patient’s illness should be pursued while SVD testing is underway. SVD diagnostic testing should not be delayed while awaiting results of other diagnostic testing.
  Patients should be held in isolation at their presenting medical facility and cared for by personnel wearing appropriate PPE, pending test results.If a patient tests positive, they would be transferred to a Regional Emerging Special Pathogens Treatment Center or a state-designated special pathogens treatment center, depending on the jurisdiction.
  Contact your state, tribal, local, or territorial health department immediately (via 24-hour Epi-on-Call contact list) if SVD is suspected and follow jurisdictional protocols for patient assessment. If a diagnosis of SVD is considered, health departments will work with CDC and the clinical team to coordinate care and testing for the patient and ensure appropriate precautions are taken to help prevent potential spread.Counsel patients with planned travel to an SVD outbreak-affected area on ways to prevent exposure during their travel. Prevention methods include:
  Avoiding contact with blood and body fluids (or with materials possibly contaminated with blood and body fluids) of people who are sick.Avoiding semen from a man who has recovered from Ebola disease until testing shows that the virus is no longer in the semen.Not touching the body of someone who died from suspected or confirmed SVD, such as during funeral or burial practices.Avoiding contact with bats, bat urine or droppings, forest antelopes, nonhuman primates, and blood, fluids, or raw meat from these or unknown animals.Refraining from entering areas known to be inhabited by bats, such as mines or caves.
• Counsel travelers to avoid visiting healthcare facilities in affected areas for nonurgent medical care or for nonmedical reasons, and to avoid visiting traditional healers.
• Counsel healthcare workers traveling to Uganda for work in clinical settings of their potential increased risk of exposure to SVD, the importance of following recommended infection prevention and control precautions and monitoring themselves for symptoms of SVD after their return to the United States.
• Follow CDC’s Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Patients in U.S. Hospitals who are Suspected or Confirmed to have Selected Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHF).

Source:

CDC (Health Alert Network). (2025, February 6). Ebola Outbreak Caused by Sudan virus in Uganda. https://www.cdc.gov/han/2025/han00521.html