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Bundibugyo, Uganda, now ebola free

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After having closed the isloation ward in Kikyo on January 8, the MSF team has decided, in agreement with the authorities, WHO and the Ministry of Health (MoH), to close the second isolation ward in Bundibugyo on January 13.

The team still needs some days to clean and decontaminate everything and hopefully very soon, the ebola intervention in Bundibugyo will be completely over.

The closure of the two isolation wards occured after having waited for a period of 21 days after the last Ebola positive case was admitted in the isolation. According to the MSF epidemiologist in Bundibugyo, the area was considered "ebola free" since January 12.

However, WHO and the MoH will wait for another period of 21 days (February 8) before officially declaring the end of the outbreak.

The outbreak was declared on Nov. 29 and the MSF intervention started on December 1 and did last approximatively six weeks.

At the same time, 27 international MSF expatriates (and 40 departures), coming from four operational centres, were working in this acute intervention with a double number of local staff.

The total number of cases was 149 with 37 deaths which gives a mortality rate of 25 percent. Of the ebola cases, 12 Uganda medical staff were amongst the patients and five of them died in the epidemic.