Ebola infections have risen across districts in Uganda, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed and suspected deaths to 23, health authorities in the east African country said Monday.
Uganda declared an outbreak of Ebola last Tuesday after a case of the relatively rare Sudan strain was detected in the country s Mubende district.
The Ugandan Health Ministry reported that cumulative cases had risen to 36, including confirmed and probable cases. In the capital city of Kampala, no cases have been detected.
The Ugandan Health Ministry considers a probable case as a person who died from suspected EVD ebola and had an epidemiological link to a confirmed case but was not tested and did not have lab confirmation.
The ministry considers confirmed cases as having positive lab results. 18 of the cases have been confirmed to have been infected, while 18 more are suspected of having the virus, according to the number of infections identified so far.
The ministry said five of the deceased patients were confirmed to have died of the disease, while 18 were listed as probable deaths. It said that around 35 patients are currently being admitted.
Uganda has had four outbreaks of Ebola. The World Health Organization said that the vaccine against the rare Sudan strain hasn't been tested for efficacy. The Ervebo rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine has been found to be effective in protecting against the Zaire variant of the Ebola virus.