Mpox cases near 3,000 in Uganda in early 2025
Health authorities in Uganda reported an additional 509 laboratory confirmed mpox cases in the past couple weeks, bringing the total to 2,989 cases since the beginning of the year. The outbreak remains largely concentrated in and around the capital, Kampala.
The mpox death toll now stands at 25 this year.
Since July last year, the cumulative total is 4,342 cases and 31 deaths from 100 of the 146 districts in the country.
So far, clade 1b MPXV, linked to the outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been detected in the country, and current evidence indicates that transmission of the virus is occurring exclusively through close, physical humanto-human contact. Uganda currently reports the second highest number of confirmed mpox cases in the African Region following the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The World Health Organization says the ongoing mpox outbreak in Uganda is occurring concurrently with outbreaks of Sudan virus disease and cholera, straining the country’s resources to manage these simultaneous public health events. The concentration of mpox cases in urban and peri-urban areas suggests that close physical contact in crowded, densely-populated environments may be driving sustained transmission of the virus. Uganda’s robust surveillance and reporting system likely accounts for the high number of confirmed cases reported. The presence of clade 1b, which is associated with higher virulence, in the Ugandan outbreak emphasizes the urgency of controlling its spread to prevent further hospitalizations, complications, and deaths. Health authorities must prioritize understanding the transmission dynamics of the virus and implement tailored public health response strategies to halt ongoing transmission and mitigate the impact of the outbreak.