Hospital nurse in Uganda dies in country's first Ebola outbreak in 2 years

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Hospital nurse in Uganda dies in country's first Ebola outbreak in 2 years

2025-01-31 01:36 Last Updated At：01:41

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A nurse in Uganda has died of Ebola in the first recorded fatality since the country's last outbreak of the disease ended in early 2023, a health official said Thursday.

The 32-year-old male nurse was an employee of Mulago Hospital, the main referral facility in the capital, Kampala, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the health ministry, told reporters Thursday.

After developing a fever, he was treated at several locations in Uganda before multiple lab tests confirmed he had been suffering from Ebola. The man died on Wednesday and the Sudan strain of Ebola was confirmed following postmortem tests, Atwine said.

At least 44 contacts of the victim have been identified, including 30 health workers and patients at Mulago Hospital, according to Uganda’s Ministry of Health.

The health authorities are “in full control of the situation,” Atwine said, while also urging Ugandans to report any suspected cases.

Tracing contacts is key to stemming the spread of Ebola, and there are no approved vaccines for the Sudan strain of Ebola.

Uganda's last outbreak, discovered in September 2022, killed at least 55 people before it was declared over in January 2023.

Confirmation of Ebola in Uganda is the latest in a trend of outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fevers in the east African region. Tanzania declared an outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg disease earlier this month, and in December Rwanda announced that its own outbreak of Marburg was over. The ongoing Marburg outbreak in northern Tanzania 's Kagera region has killed at least two people, according to local health authorities.

The World Health Organization will send an initial allocation of $1 million from a contingency fund to support Uganda's response, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, said in a brief statement posted on the social platform X.

“A full scale response is being initiated by the government and partners,” the statement said.

Kampala's outbreak could prove difficult to respond to, because the city has a highly mobile population of about 4 million. The nurse who died had sought treatment at a hospital just outside Kampala and later traveled to Mbale, in the country's east, where he was admitted in a public hospital. Health authorities said the man also sought the services of a traditional healer.

Emmanuel Batiibwe, a physician who helped lead Uganda's efforts to stop the country's 2022 outbreak, told The Associated Press that he expected a swift response in tracing all possible Ebola contacts in Kampala and elsewhere.

“Our reaction should be swift, decisive and well-coordinated,” he said, speaking of lessons learned from the 2022 outbreak, whose epicenter was a town in central Uganda. “We have the means of responding quickly now.”

Ebola, which is spread by contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials, manifests as a deadly hemorrhagic fever. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.

Scientists don’t know the natural reservoir of Ebola, but they suspect the first person infected in an outbreak acquired the virus through contact with an infected animal or eating its raw meat.

Ugandan officials are still investigating the source of the current outbreak.

Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that killed hundreds. The 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people, the disease’s largest death toll.

Ebola was discovered in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks in South Sudan and Congo, where it occurred in a village near the Ebola River, after which the disease is named.

Convalescing Pope Francis opens Holy Week with in-person greeting in St. Peter's Square

2025-04-13 22:29 Last Updated At：22:31

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A convalescing Pope Francis greeted the crowd in St. Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday, wishing more than 20,000 faithful a “Happy Palm Sunday, Happy Holy Week," in yet another reassuring public sign of his recovery from a life-threatening battle with double pneumonia.

Many in the crowd reached out to touch Francis’ hand or garments as he was brought in a wheelchair down a ramp to the main altar, where he issued his brief greeting into a microphone. The 88-year-old pope was not wearing nasal tubes for supplemental oxygen, as he had during a similar appearance last Sunday.

On his way back to St. Peter’s Basilica from where he had emerged, Francis stopped to bless a rosary, and offered candy to a boy who greeted him.

The 88-year-old Francis is entering his fourth week of convalescence during which doctors have advised him to avoid crowds. While Francis is clearly eager to show he is feeling better, he has not spoken more than a few words in public as he recovers from a severe respiratory crisis that has labored his speech. The Vatican said it was waiting to advise on what role he may play in upcoming Holy Week events leading up to Easter Sunday.

It was his second time in St. Peter’s Square before a crowd since leaving the hospital, following last Sunday's unexpected appearance that thrilled the faithful. He also met privately with King Charles III and Queen Camilla this week, and made an impromptu tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, stopping to pray, and to thank a pair of restorers for their work on the basilica's masterpieces.

On Saturday, the eve of Holy Week, Francis went to the St. Mary Major Basilica in central Rome to pray privately before a favorite icon of the Virgin Mary, Salus Populi Romani. The basilica, which he typically visits before and after his foreign trips, was also his first stop after leaving the Gemelli hospital on March 23.

In the traditional Sunday blessing, the pontiff thanked the faithful for their prayers. “At this time of physical weakness, they help me to feel God’s closeness, compassion and tenderness even more.” For the ninth week, including his five-week hospitalization starting Feb. 14, the blessing was delivered as a text.

The pope offered prayers for those suffering in the conflict in Sudan, which marks its second anniversary on Tuesday, and for Lebanon, where civil war began 50 years ago, as well as for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Congo, Myanmar and South Sudan.

In a prepared Palm Sunday homily read by a top Vatican cardinal, Francis urged the faithful to carry the cross “of those who suffer around us” to mark the start of the solemn Holy Week.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice dean of the College of Cardinals, led the celebrations, leading a procession of cardinals around the piazza’s central obelisk carrying an ornately braided palm that recalls Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, when crowds waved palm branches to honor him.

The initial welcome contrasts with the suffering that follows, leading up to his crucifixion, which Christians observe on Good Friday, followed by his resurrection, celebrated on Easter Sunday.

The faithful emerged from St. Peter's Square carrying blessed palm fronds or olive branches to mark the occasion. While the pope's appearance was widely expected, pilgrims acknowledged some concern that gusts of wind might keep him from entering the square.

“There was a bit of worry when a few drops fell and it was windy but then at the end he surprised us and it was a really great emotion,'' said Luigi Mighali. "I think his words, ‘Happy Holy Week and Happy Palm Sunday,' moved everyone.''

Yesica Andagua, a Peruvian nun, said she was gratified to see the pope doing so well.

"The truth is that it has given me a lot of joy, at least for me, to see that he is getting better and may he get better soon, God willing,” she said.

Video journalist Francesco Sportelli contributed.