Rift Valley Fever Outbreak during COVID-19 Surge, Uganda, 2021

Abstract

Rift Valley fever, endemic or emerging throughout most of Africa, causes considerable risk to human and animal health. We report 7 confirmed Rift Valley fever cases, 1 fatal, in Kiruhura District, Uganda, during 2021. Our findings highlight the importance of continued viral hemorrhagic fever surveillance, despite challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: Bunyavirales; Rift Valley fever; Uganda; outbreak investigation; vector-borne infections; viral hemorrhagic fever; zoonoses; zoonotic.

Figure 1

Locations where the index case-patient of a Rift Valley fever outbreak in Kinoni Subcounty sought care during the period of acute illness preceding her death, Uganda, 2021. Arrows indicate route patient followed during attempts to find diagnosis and care. Inset shows location of Uganda in Africa.

Figure 2

Phylogenetic analysis of Kenya-2 clade Rift Valley fever virus small segment from an outbreak in Uganda, 2021, compared with available full-length segments from GenBank (accession numbers shown). Green shading indicates sequence from Uganda outbreak; blue shading indicates historic RVFV sequences from Uganda. Red numbers indicate nodes with bootstrap support >70%. Complete phylogenies of small and large segments are shown in the Appendix.