On Jan. 30, 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced it was mobilizing efforts to support national health authorities in Uganda to swiftly contain and end the outbreak of Sudan virus disease – which belongs to the same family as Ebola virus disease.

The WHO is deploying senior public health experts and mobilizing staff from the country office to support all the key outbreak response measures. In addition, the Organization allocated US$ 1 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to help accelerate early action, and is readying medical supplies, including personal protective equipment to deliver to Uganda from its Emergency Response Hub in Nairobi.

While there are no licensed vaccines for the Sudan virus disease, WHO is coordinating with developers to deploy candidate vaccines as an addition to the other public health measures. The vaccines will be deployed once all administrative and regulatory approvals are obtained.

There have been eight previous outbreaks of the Sudan virus disease, with five occurring in Uganda and three in Sudan. Uganda last reported an outbreak of Sudan virus disease in 2022. 

Sudan virus disease is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and other primates that is due to Orthoebolavirus sudanense (Sudan virus), a viral species belonging to the same genus of the virus causing Ebola virus disease.  Case fatality rates of Sudan virus disease have varied from 41% to 100% in past outbreaks. There are no approved treatments or vaccines for Sudan virus. Early initiation of supportive treatment has been shown to significantly reduce deaths from Sudan virus disease.