A fishmonger vomited at Mpondwe market in Uganda on July 11 before dying of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo, an incident that could spread the disease in Uganda, the World Health Organization reported on Wednesday.
WHO said in a report that about 590 fishmongers at the market could be targeted for vaccination, and it had yet to establish the woman’s movements or who had transported her or her goods.
Ebola is highly infectious and spread through bodily fluids. The current outbreak, largely confined to Congo apart from three deaths in Uganda last month, has killed 1,676 people – more than two thirds of those who contracted it – over the past year.
The health response relies on tracking down people who may have been exposed to the virus and vaccinating them and anybody they have had contact with.
The WHO report said 19 other fishmongers were listed as possible contacts in the Uganda incident. It said 44 currency exchange workers had volunteered to be vaccinated, while another 590 fishmongers could be targeted for vaccination.
Local leaders were very cooperative, but none of the market traders were willing to provide further information for fear of losing business, given that it was a market day, the WHO added.
Healthworkers had not established where the fishmonger spent nights, how she travelled or who transported her merchandise, or who cleaned up her vomit.
News of the incident came as the WHO’s emergency committee of international experts met for a fourth time to decide if the 11-month outbreak constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC).
Such a designation would include recommendations for international action and could help unlock funds, which the WHO has said are sorely needed.
It would be only the fifth such designation, after the 2013-2016 West African Ebola epidemic that killed over 11,300 people, the 2009 flu pandemic, polio in 2014 and the Zika virus that caused a spate of birth defects across Latin America.
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