Uganda: Cholera Outbreak in Mbale

[Shiloh]

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200806051243.html

Uganda: Cholera Outbreak in Mbale
The Monitor (Kampala)

5 June 2008
Posted to the web 5 June 2008

An outbreak of cholera has been reported in a remote village of Mbale District and has already claimed three lives and leaves many others at risk.

Bubulo west MP Goerge William Wopuwa says the epidemic is blamed on the dry season that has forced people to consume polluted water from rivers, specifically from River Manafwa which flows through this affected area.

He has urged the people in Mbale district to be on guard and put a stop to social functions since they speed up the spread of the epidemic. He appealed to the leaders to institute intense hygienic conditions and also restrict people movements for the time being.

[Shiloh]

Re: Uganda: Cholera Outbreak in Mbale

Source: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/17/635308

Cholera kills 9 in Mbale
Tuesday, 24th June, 2008

By Daniel Edyegu

Nine people have died of cholera in Mbale since the beginning of this month, according to the district health officer, Dr. Francis Abwaimo.

Another five have died in Butaleja district and 65 others admitted in various health centres.

Abwaimo said 77 patients were admitted in Busiu health centre, one of the gazetted units in the district.

The disease, he noted, had affected mainly Busiu sub-county. He attributed the outbreak to the flooding of River Manafwa, where most residents draw water for domestic use.

?We have formed a health team that is educating the people on prevention of the disease. The health ministry has sent us medical equipment, including rehydration fluids, gloves and drugs,? Abwaimo said.

When The New Vision visited Busiu health centre on Monday, 12 patients lay on papyrus mats spread on beds.

Hannah Asio, a nurse, said they were receiving two to six new cases daily.

?We use the papyrus mats such that when a patient cures and is discharged, the mats are burnt and another patient occupies the bed without fear of re-infection,? Asio explained.

She identified some of the patients who died as Scovia Namutosi from Busiu and Nicholas Ongole of Bukedea district.

Other districts in eastern region that have been hit by cholera are Manafwa, Butaleja and Pallisa.

The Butaleja district health officer, Dr. Kenneth Mweru, said Kachonga and Mazimasa sub-counties were the most affected.

Health minister Dr. Stephen Mallinga on Monday visited the district and advised residents to observe hygiene.

He told them to desist from attributing cholera to witchcraft.

Cholera is a diarrhoeal disease whose symptoms include passing watery stool, vomiting and leg cramps.

It is spread through drinking water or eating food contaminated with faeces of an infected person.

[Shiloh]

Re: Uganda: Cholera Outbreak in Mbale

Source: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/635578
Cholera death toll hits 30
Wednesday, 25th June, 2008

By Vision Reporters

AT LEAST 31 people have died of cholera and over 290 infected in the eastern districts of Butaleja, Mbale, Pallisa and Manafwa.

The health minister, Dr. Stephen Mallinga, attributed the infections to River Manafwa, which he said was contaminated from Bugobero.

The river moves through the four districts and empties its waters in the swamps in the low-lying rice-growing areas of Butaleja.

He added that the outbreak reported in the past six weeks followed the April heavy rains.

?Kachonga, Maizimasa and Butaleja sub-counties have recorded 65 cases and four deaths,? he said in a statement to Parliament yesterday.

Mallinga said they had reactivated the district cholera task forces, provided supplies and set up treatment centres.

The Government, he explained, was distributing jerrycans to the people to use instead of water pots.

?Water in pots gets contaminated when fingers are dipped in it. We are also giving out water purification tablets.?

Pallisa has reported 110 cases and eight deaths and the most affected sub-counties were Kasodo, Buseta.

The two sub-counties, Mallinga said, had a latrine and safe water coverage of about 50%.

Mallinga said El Tor sub-type, a rare cholera strain, was common in the Middle East.

Deputy speaker Rebecca Kadaga, asked water and environment minister Maria Mutagamba if they could declare a latrine week but the minister said they did not have funds.

Reported by A. Mugisa,
Joyce Namutebi and John Odyek

[Shiloh]

Re: Uganda: Cholera Outbreak in Mbale

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200806300993.html
Uganda: Health Ministry Shuns Media Campaigns Against Cholera Epidemic
The Monitor (Kampala)
29 June 2008
Posted to the web 30 June 2008
Kakaire A. Kirunda & Ahmed Wetaka
Kampala/ Mbale

While the health ministry is aware that the cholera strain ravaging eastern Uganda is capable of causing a large scale epidemic, mitigation measures appear wanting.

Diagnostic samples from the affected districts of Pallisa, Tororo, Butaleja, Mbale and Manafwa show that the strain discovered after tests was found to be cholera O1 El Tor Inaba.

According to the World Health Organisation, cholera causes the majority of outbreaks worldwide. A survey by Sunday Monitor has established that despite the outbreak of the epidemic almost two months ago, the health ministry has not embarked on a mass health education campaign through the media as it normally does when diseases break out.

As of Thursday, none of the radio stations that cover the affected districts has received radio spots or public service announcements educating the public on how to avoid and control infections.

"We have only had two radio shows organised by the districts of Mbale and Manafwa. We are yet to get spots from the health ministry," said a station manager at one of the radio stations in Mbale who preferred anonymity for fear of jeopardising his business relationship with the ministry.

But as far as the ministry is concerned, the current epidemic has been the best controlled compared to those before in this sub-region. The Commissioner for Community Health Dr Sam Okware said on Friday that "a film van is moving in the affected areas educating the public about cholera."

He said the delay to use the mass media could be due to financial constraints. He said treatment centres are working well in the affected areas.

As of June 25, the epidemic had killed 28 people out of the 350 cumulative cases. According to the WHO, cholera is mainly transmitted through contaminated water and food and is closely linked to inadequate environmental management.

The absence or shortage of safe water and sufficient sanitation combined with a generally poor environmental status are the main causes of spread of the disease.

The UN health agency says measures for the prevention of cholera mostly consist of providing clean water and proper sanitation to populations potentially affected.

[Shiloh]

Re: Uganda: Cholera Outbreak in Mbale

Source: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/17/637091

Thursday, 3rd July, 2008

By Daniel Edyegu
Four primary schools in Mbale have been closed due to the cholera outbreak in the district.

The district health chief, Dr. Francis Abwaimo, said Tubeyi, Bumaliro and Purukuru primary schools in Bukyiyende sub-county and Nyondo Primary School in Busano sub-county lacked proper sanitary facilities and adequate pit-latrines.

?Six pupils in these schools had been infected with cholera.

Some of the children also come from families whose members were infected with cholera, posing a risk to other pupils,? Abwaimo said.

He said the schools would be reopened when better sanitary facilities were established, adding that the district was seeking funds to build the facilities and repair boreholes.

Abwaimo revealed that since May, nine people had died of cholera in Mbale, while the 122 cases had been hospitalised. Bukyende and Busiu sub-counties are the most affected.

The district gazetted Busiu health centre to treat cholera patients.

Dr. John Baptist Waniaye, the officer in-charge, said the cases were dropping.
?At the height of the epidemic in June, we used to receive about nine to 10 patients daily. Now, we get between two to six cases daily and some days none.?

Waniaye said most of the new cases were from communities that use water from unprotected sources, while some were infected while attending to patients.

He said four patients died at the health centre, while five died in the communities, mainly due to stigma.

?When people realise that a family member has got cholera, they flee abandoning the patient to die alone,? Waniaye said.

?At times we get the information about the patient when the person is already too dehydrated to survive,? he added.