Program credited with expediting Ugandan virus detection

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report is touting the benefits of a program credited with expediting Ugandan virus detection.

The CDC-UVRI Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Surveillance and Laboratory Program was lauded in a CDC report published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The CDC said the program, which began in 2010, identified five times as many outbreaks between 2010 and 2017 as were documented in the decade before the program began.

“Early detection and response are key to protecting the public,” Trevor Shoemaker, the article’s lead author who led the program for six years, said. “By increasing surveillance and working together to catch outbreaks soon after they start, we can keep outbreaks small, preventing illnesses and deaths. This saves lives locally and helps prevent the further spread of deadly diseases to other countries, including the United States.”

Officials said the national Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) program is a collaboration between CDC, the Uganda Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI).

The effort involves combining real-time surveillance with laboratory testing and emergency response to significantly decrease both intensity and length of VHF outbreaks in the country, potentially saving hundreds or thousands of lives.

Since the program’s inception, officials said, scientists at the laboratory have tested more than 11,000 human blood samples and have confirmed 16 outbreaks, including Ebola, Marburg hemorrhagic fever, Rift Valley Fever, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever.

Half of the 16 outbreaks were stopped before they spread beyond the first patient identified.