There have been 20 confirmed Ebola cases in Uganda thus far, but the country has not registered a new case in more than a month. Fifteen of those patients came across the border, some to seek treatment in Ugandan hospitals. Aside from two patients who died, the rest have recovered. The others were quarantined and released, the authorities said this month. Bundibugyo has not recorded a single infection in this outbreak.
“They know how to handle it,” said Dr. Wessam Mankoula, who leads the country’s Ebola response unit at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, referring to Ugandan health officials.
The effect of that expertise in Bundibugyo is to see life carry on as normal, despite the threat just across the river, which is often shallow enough to ford.
Schools, shops and offices here remain open, though hand-washing stations have been set up at the entrances to public places. Teams play soccer on the field beside the town’s government offices every evening. No one in the town wears a mask.
Christopher Kiyita, the top health officer in Bundibugyo, said that in his 15 years on the job he had faced down several Ebola outbreaks, supported by the national government. He said he regularly drives the nine hours to the capital to attend important meetings.