Ebola in Uganda: Kampala

31 Jan 2025

On 30 January 2025, the Ministry of Health in Uganda reported an outbreak of Ebola virus disease. There is one case, who died on 29 January. 

The case worked at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala and had visited various health facilities including Mulago National Referral Hospital (Kampala), Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital (Matugga, Wakiso District), Mbale Regional Referral Hospital (Mbale City) and a traditional healer.

Ebola is a type of viral haemorrhagic fever (VHF). It is spread through contact with the blood, body fluids or organs of a person or animal with the infection.

Currently, there is no licensed vaccine available for UK travellers to prevent Ebola.

Advice to travellers

The risk to travellers becoming infected or developing Ebola is extremely low.

• If you are travelling to a known Ebola outbreak area, you must be aware of the risk of infection and transmission routes of Ebola virus.
• If you are medical personnel travelling to work in an outbreak region, you must follow strict infection prevention control guidance.

You can minimise your risk of becoming infected or developing Ebola by:

• avoiding direct contact with blood or bodily fluids of people who appear unwell, or touching the bodies of those who have died
• avoiding touching potentially contaminated linen, clothing, or personal items from unwell people
• avoiding close contact with wild animals and consumption of ‘bush meat’ from these animals
• avoiding having unprotected sexual intercourse

General Travel Advice

You can reduce your risk of becoming unwell with more common travel-related diseases in Uganda, including malaria by:

• reading the country-specific advice for information on advisable vaccinations, malaria and other health risks for Uganda
• making sure you are up-to-date with routine vaccines for life in the UK
• know how to avoid mosquito bites and other insect bites
• take care with respiratory hygiene precautions and wash your hands often
• taking safe food and water precautions when travelling

If you think you may need vaccines, malaria advice and/or tablets, you should have a travel health risk assessment.

After Travel

If you become ill when abroad, you should seek medical advice as soon as possible.

After returning to the UK if you develop a high temperature (fever) with or without additional symptoms (such as a headache, joint and muscle pain, sore throat, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, unexplained bleeding / bruising), and you have:

• returned to the UK within 21 days from a region or area with a known outbreak of Ebola
• had contact with individuals infected with a VHF

You should seek rapid medical attention by calling NHS 24 (Scotland) or NHS 111 (rest of UK), or by contacting your GP practice by telephone for advice.

• Always remember to mention your recent travel history, and if you have travelled to a country infected with malaria as this will help identify what the problem could be.

For further information, see the fitfortravel Viral Haemorrhagic Fever page.