In the United States, some health officials fear that the closure of the American agency for international development missions can have disastrous results, because the dropout of foreign aid has forced delays in what they said to be The “chaotic” answer at the start of the States epidemic.
The epidemic marks the eighth of Uganda from an Ebola virus. The first confirmed case in The home was nurse In a hospital in the national capital, Kampala, which contracted Ebola on January 20 or January 21 and died on January 29.
There are now six confirmed cases and six suspicious cases. In two of the suspect cases, according to an internal slide shared with CBS News, the health authorities have not identified any epidemiological link with the other cases.
More than a dozen Americans in Uganda are also among those who have so far known to have been exposed to the Sudan virus, the type of Ebola that had infected the initial case. So far, these people have not shown symptoms, two people familiar with the situation at CBS News said.
There is no vaccine or treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the Sudan virus. This Ebola strain was fatal in at least 41% of the cases reported in past epidemics, according to The World Health Organization.
The new epidemic coincides with the Trump administration’s break in foreign aid – including its response to international epidemics that could spread. This has caused uncertainty among health organizations in health, which are now faced with unpaid debts and a radical frost on a large part of their American funding.
“What we are talking about are workers in the case of disaster, we are talking about health workers and people who do good and protect America in the world Monday.
The break resulted in a lack of personnel on the tracing and screening of outgoing international travelers in Uganda, said an American official, as many experts financed by the United States in the region have been dismissed or ordered to arrest to work.
USAID should put almost all its staff on leave Friday and closes missions abroad.
“It puts the world in danger,” said a USAID official in a message. “I’m not an alarmist, but it’s very bad,” added the manager.
In 2022, an epidemic of Sudan virus in Uganda caused a great American response. The United States accelerated Screening and preparation for the virus here and sent Staff and resources To help efforts in Uganda to contain its spread.
The Ugandan health system had already been extended in recent months, fighting against an epidemic distinct from a different disease – MPOX – which led to at least 2,031 cases, according to the WHO.
The spokesperson for the State Department and the USAID did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
President Trump also ordered the US WHO withdrawal, which has been twinned at a request for all the American government staff separation collaboration With the United Nations agency which contributes to coordinating the response within the country.
An American health official said that the CDC generally works in close collaboration with the WHO and the health authorities of a country, often meeting daily to coordinate the response to epidemics like this.
Despite the order of the president concerning WHO, “CDC was authorized to speak head-on with the WHO counterparts linked to response activities in Uganda,” said a CDC spokesperson in a press release. The CDC said such conversations are also authorized with regard to the responses to other worrying epidemics in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The attempts of the American agencies to deploy staff to help the response to the epidemic have also been delayed, said an official in the midst of government breaks to travel and spend.
While officials obtained an exemption on Saturday from the State Department to release funds for the response, many beneficiaries of American funds were reluctant to accept money due to the turmoil in Washington, two people familiar with the situation .
Non -profit organizations are also struggling with an increasing number of requests imposed by the Trump administration as a condition for receiving funds, such as a sweeping order to purge all gender and diversity mentions “at all levels and Activities, whatever your location or citizenship of citizenship of citizenship of citizenship of citizenship of citizenship of employees or entrepreneurs “supported by US dollars.
In Uganda, groups are still waiting for clarification of their contacts in the country to the USAID on the way in which the waiver would apply to their work, people said, distrusting more expenses that might never be reimbursed.
According to the decrees of Mr. Trump, the country’s Ministry of Health urged all the staff supported by the CDC and the USAID to “continue to work in the spirit of patriotism as a volunteer”, in a letter obtained by CBS News, while Ugandan officials sought “to restore normality”.
CDC “radio silence”
The growing epidemic in Uganda has also left certain state and local health authorities were faced with the CDC’s “radio silence”, officials at CBS News said.
In past epidemics, CDC managers quickly started to accelerate preparation for the possibility that cases spread to the United States
External meetings and the sharing of information on which the health authorities are generally counting to communicate with CDC officials were canceled in the middle of the “break” of communications through the Ministry of Health and Social Services, or HHS.
An HHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The communications break was initially to end last weekend, but many federal health officials say they are still faced with delays or refusals to obtain the approval of publishing information or participating in meetings external.
“HHS continues to increase the levels of staff while we are impatiently awaiting the new secretary at the head of the agency. HHS has approved numerous communications linked to the critical needs of health and safety and will continue to do so” , said Andrew Nixon, director of communications for the department, CBS News in a previous declaration.
As a stopgap, some states have worked on informal partnerships to accelerate their own preparation for the arrival of potential cases, officials said.
The CDC was able to publish A travel alert Wednesday on travel in Uganda, but she left aside the links and information of the WHO updates on the epidemic.
Other donors intervene
Not all health experts are alarmed by the current situation.
Two American doctors of infectious diseases who have worked with epidemics in the country have expressed their confidence that other groups and countries would be able to fill the vacuum left by American support, but recognized that they were concerned about the possibility of ‘An undetected propagation and delays in the response.
In Ebola’s past epidemics, the United States has often financed many key steps to contain the epidemic in its first days, in particular by rushing to set up isolation facilities and support the response to the epidemic of a range of non -governmental organizations with workers in the country.
Laboratories financed by the United States have generally been on the front line of responses to epidemics, through institutions such as the Uganda Institute Virus Research.
Certain groups, such as borders without borders and who, have tried to cover the deficit. WHO recently praised Its launch – with the help of Canada and Europe – a vaccination trial in response to the epidemic.
Russia could also help to fill the vacuum left by the American departure: state media recently declared that the nation had launched a mobile laboratory in the Ugandan capital to help the epidemic.
