The virus is similar to Ebola and symptoms include ‘unexplained bleeding’, vomiting and diarrhoea – an outbreak has been confirmed by the WHO following the death of a nurse

An outbreak of an “unexplained bleeding” virus that has a 50 per cent death rate has been confirmed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The WHO confirmed the Sudan virus caused the death of a 32-year-old male nurse. The WHO has reported two main clusters of infections among the nurse’s family and at the hospital where they worked. So far there are nine confirmed cases of the virus which does not have a known vaccine.

It is the ninth recorded outbreak since 1976, when the virus was first identified. Sudan virus is said to be very similar to Ebola with symptoms that include diarrhoea, vomiting and unexplained bleeding.

A 2022 outbreak of the Sudan virus in Uganda ended in 164 cases and 77 fatalities, a death rate of 47 per cent. The 32-year-old male nurse worked at the Mulago National Referral Hospital, in Uganda, and became infected by the the disease after an Ebola outbreak in the country on January 29.

Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, told The Conversation: “Sudan virus disease is essentially a disease very similar to Ebola. The Ebola virus has caused several high-profile outbreaks. The west Africa 2014-16 outbreak was the largest with 28,600 cases and 11,325 deaths.

“The Sudan and Ebola viruses both come from the orthoebolavirus family, but they have different proteins and genetic components, so the immune response to each virus is different. As such, it’s thought that the Ebola vaccines will not be effective against the Sudan virus.

“For the current Sudan virus outbreak, there are efforts to deploy vaccine candidates and also monoclonal antibody medicines. These medicines create antibodies that aim to stop the virus from replicating.”

No suspected, probable or confirmed cases of Ebola have been reported outside Uganda but, as a precaution the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it would share information about the virus and cases in the African country to raise awareness about the outbreak.

What is Ebola?

According to the CDC, Ebola disease is caused by a group of viruses that affect humans and primates, such as monkeys, chimpanzees and gorillas. A person with Ebola disease is not contagious until symptoms appear, which can include:

  • Fever
  • Headache
  • Muscle and joint pain
  • Fatigue
  • Appetite loss
  • Gastrointestinal symptoms
  • Unexplained bleeding

The disease is spread through direct contact with body fluids of a person who is sick with, or has died from Ebola. The disease can also be spread through direct contact with infected animals as well as objects such as needles that are contaminated with the virus.

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