The rare strain of Ebola circulating in Uganda does not have an approved vaccine, and rapid tests to confirm cases are also not available for the strain.
This means suspected cases must undergo polymerase chain reaction, or PCR testing, which is a more lengthy process and requires a laboratory and reagent, Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a press briefing on Thursday.
Uganda declared an outbreak of the Sudan Ebola strain last week, which hasn’t been reported globally in a decade.
According to a World Health Organization spokesperson, as of Sept. 28, there were 50 suspected cases, of which 31 are confirmed. Twenty four people have died, which includes 6 confirmed cases. The outbreak has hit three districts, and the government has documented 414 contacts of the cases.
Health minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero tweeted on Wednesday there are no confirmed cases in the capital city of Kampala.
The majority of recent outbreaks have been of the Zaire strain where the Xpert Ebola Assay — a rapid, automated test — has been deployed.
"We deploy them very quickly in the community and they are very easy and quick to use,” Ouma said.
Without this technology in the Uganda outbreak, confirmation of test results has been delayed. But Ouma said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, substantial investments were made in increasing the capacity of labs to perform PCR testing.
"The COVID pandemic really drove up PCR platform capability on the continent,” he said, adding that now the priority is getting the needed reagents to the labs in Uganda so they can perform the tests.
Clinical trials could also begin in Uganda for candidate vaccines used to protect people against the Sudan Ebola strain.
In a press briefing last Thursday, Dr. Ana Maria Henao-Restrepo, WHO's co-lead for research and development blueprint for epidemics, said vaccines are not a “silver bullet” and that other control measures are also incredibly important for containment.