Current Ebola Threat is from Fresh Wildlife Spillover

A study by scientists from Uganda’s Ministry of Health and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) has confirmed that the current Ebola outbreak in both countries is the result of a fresh spillover from wildlife into humans.

While Uganda has previously had an Ebola outbreak involving the same Bundibugyo strain of the virus in 2007, and the DRC recorded the same strain in the 2012 outbreak, the scientists led by Dr Andrew Nsawotebba, based at the Department of National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services at MOH, found that the virus currently circulating is genetically distinct from the previous variants.

While scientists were previously skeptical about the origin of this outbreak that has had 19 people confirmed positive in Uganda and 827 in the DRC by Wednesday, the new findings, also published in Nature Medicine, a journal for biomedical research, confirm this is not an old outbreak that lay hidden or continued to spread undetected. Instead, the virus has freshly crossed over from a wild animal reservoir into the human population.

These findings rule out the fear that the virus has been quietly spreading among people unnoticed for years. The scientists say these findings are particularly important because they not only help authorities pinpoint exactly how the virus is moving through communities but also are important in ensuring laboratory tests are 100% accurate in detecting this specific strain.

According to Dr Atek Kagirita, a Deputy Incident Commander for such public health emergencies at MOH and part of the study team, this virus, called Bundibugyo, has nothing to do with people from Bundibugyo moving to the neighboring DRC in Ituri to spread the disease.  He said the exact wild animal reservoir from which the disease was spread is not known.

However, in Uganda, the virus is currently under control as the country has gone more than ten days without recording a new infection. The majority of the people previously confirmed were cases of Congolese nationals who were seeking care in Uganda. 

Even with no cases circulating locally in the Ugandan community, Dr Charles Olaro, the Director General of Health Services, urges the public to be vigilant and continue practicing good hand hygiene and remain alert so that they can immediately report anyone seen to have usual symptoms such as high-grade fever, vomiting, and unexplained bleeding, among others. 

As of Thursday morning, Uganda has had seven recoveries and ten admissions. Two people, all Congolese nationals, have since succumbed to complications of the disease.