One person has been confirmed dead following reports of Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
This is the first death to be recorded from Ebola virus since 2019, signifying an outbreak in the central Mubende district.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is investigating six other deaths suspected to be linked to outbreak of the virus in the area.
The country’s health ministry said authorities had to declare an outbreak after one patient died of a highly contagious virus on Tuesday.
Health officials said investigation carried out on the man who died in the central Mubende district on Monday tested positive of the virus.
The confirmed case, a 24-year-old male showed symptoms of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and later died,
Ugandan health ministry said in a statement on Twitter on Tuesday.
This is the first time in more than a decade that Uganda is recording a Sudan strain Ebola,” WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti said.
The outbreak was confirmed after six suspicious deaths that occurred in the district this month were investigated by the National Rapid Response Team.
The WHO says there are currently eight suspected cases receiving treatment in a health facility in Uganda.
The global health body said that it is helping Ugandan health authorities with their probe and dispatching staff to the affected area.
Ebola is an often-deadly viral haemorrhagic fever that spreads through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials.
Symptoms of the Ebola disease include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and possible internal and external bleeding.
The virus was first identified in Central Africa in 1976.
Uganda has witnessed multiple outbreaks of the Ebola virus with the most recent case in 2019.
Uganda shares a porous border with the Democratic Republic of Congo which recorded a new Ebola case last month.
