Ebola in Uganda: November 30 - December 17, 2007

[Treyfish]

Re: WHO concerned at new Ebola strain in Uganda

Re: WHO concerned at new Ebola strain in Uganda

Outbreak of rare Ebola virus in Uganda worsens

Sun 2 Dec 2007, 15:24 GMT

KAMPALA (Reuters) - The number of Ugandans infected by a
new strain of the deadly Ebola virus has risen to 58, raising fears the death toll of 18 will also increase from the outbreak in a remote area near Democratic Republic of Congo.
The half dozen extra infections in recent days include some medical staff who were treating victims of the haemorrhagic fever which has swept the western Bundibugyo region since August.
"Four of our medical personnel, including a doctor and three nurses, have been isolated in Bundibugyo Hospital after catching the virus," said Dr. Sam Okware, head of Uganda's national hemorrhagic fever task force.
"We now have a team of experts on the ground to try and contain further spreading of the virus."
Genetic analysis of samples taken from some of the victims shows it is a previously unknown type of Ebola, making it the fifth strain, U.S. and Ugandan health officials say.
Ebola can cause internal and external bleeding.
Victims often die of shock, but symptoms can be vague, including fever, muscle pain and nausea. It is known to infect humans, chimpanzees and gorillas.
Uganda was last hit by an epidemic of Ebola in 2000, when 425 people caught it and just over half of them died, including a doctor treating victims.
An outbreak in neighbouring Congo this year infected up to 264 :tiphat: http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN255477.html?rpc=401&

 

[Treyfish]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

<TABLE xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format"><TBODY><TR><TD class=ArticleHead colSpan=2>Medics flee Uganda<!--head0--></TD></TR><TR><TD class=Byline><!--byline1-->By Vincent Mayanja, AFP<!--byline0--></TD><TD class=Published align=right>Published:<!--date1-->Dec 02, 2007<!--date0--></TD></TR><TR><TD class=ArticleHead colSpan=2><HR class=ArticleLine width="100%" SIZE=1></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=200 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=200 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=ArticleImg>

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<!--par1-->KAMPALA - Several dozen medics and support staff have fled western Uganda after their co-workers became infected with the Ebola virus in an outbreak that has already killed 18 people, officials said on Saturday.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->Ugandan officials clamped a quarantine on the Bundibugyo region and appealed for help in dealing with the outbreak of Ebola, a contagious disease that kills up to 90 percent of those infected.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->However efforts to contain the outbreak, which began in September but was definitively identified as Ebola only last week, have been hampered by medical personnel becoming infected and others fleeing.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->"We have a shortage of health workers and we need more because those who were there on the ground have been infected: two doctors, a medical officer and a nurse," said Sam Zaramba, the country?s top government physician.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->"Health workers are terribly afraid. They have abandoned patients in health units for fear of being infected," a government official told the state-owned New Vision newspaper.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->A health official for the Bundibugyo region, who asked not to be named, estimated the number of health and support staff to have abandoned their posts to be several dozen.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->Zaramba said earlier that two more patients had succumbed to the virus in the region, bringing the toll to 18.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->"Cumulatively, there are 18 deaths and 61 cases," he said.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->A total of 19 patients were quarantined in Bundibugyo hospital near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, which itself has had harrowing experience with the virulent disease.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->"Those admitted are mainly health workers and those who attended to the patients," Zaramba told AFP.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->Previous Ebola fatalities among medical workers have been blamed on poor sanitation and hygiene in health centres that lack protective suits, respirator masks, latex gloves and other necessary safety gear.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->Ebola spreads through contact of body fluids, particularly blood, putting health workers who lack protective gear at risk.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->"The situation is not yet under control. The main challenge we are facing is detecting cases and following up on those who made contacts with the patients," Zaramba added.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->A team of epidemiologists and virologists arrived in the region on Saturday to try to retrace backwards the source of the virus as part of a campaign to avoid future epidemics.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->Authorities on Friday said the outbreak was an unknown strain after analysis was done on tissue samples at the laboratories of the Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->Known Ebola subtypes usually attack capillaries and blood vessel linings, draining the body of blood through openings, leaving the patient to die in shock, doctors say.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->But the new Uganda subtype kills patients by provoking high fever, but without much loss of blood.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->There is no vaccine or cure for Ebola.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->On Saturday, Rwandan authorities announced they had tightened border health controls to prevent if from travelling across the frontier from western Uganda.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->Experts say the disease is usually containable because it kills its victims faster that it can spread to new ones.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->An outbreak killed at least 170 people in Uganda?s northern Gulu district in 2000. Another in recent weeks killed at least 26 people in DR Congo?s West Kasai region.<!--par0-->
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<!--par1-->The Ebola virus was first identified in 1976 in Sudan and in a nearby region of DRC, then Zaire. Outbreaks of Ebola have also occurred in the Ivory Coast and Gabon.:tiphat: http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=647609
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[HenryN]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12020702/Ebola_Uganda_HCW.html

 

[Treyfish]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Rwanda reinforces border health controls<TABLE style="WIDTH: 405px; HEIGHT: 44px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=caption style="WIDTH: 360px">
December 01 2007 at 12:05PM </TD></TR><TR><TD style="HEIGHT: 1px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cccccc" colSpan=2></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=23 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=svarticletext>[SIZE=+1][/SIZE]Kigali - Rwanda's authorities announced on Saturday they had reinforced border health controls to prevent a previously unknown strain of the lethal Ebola virus from travelling across the frontier from western Uganda.

"We are extremely worried since this region isn't very far away from us and commercial and social exchanges are considerable," Innocent Nyaruhirira, Rwanda's secretary for HIV/Aids and other epidemics, told the government-controlled Radio Rwanda.

So far no Ebola cases have been detected in Rwanda, he said.

The Atlanta-based Centres for Disease Control announced on Friday a new strain of Ebola with new characteristics from the classic virus had been detected in western Uganda's Bundibugyo region.

Virologists say previous strains destroyed the linings of blood capillaries and vessels, prompting fluids to drain out of the circulatory system through the body's orifices and pores, killing the victim through shock.

But there is not much bleeding in the new strain that appears to kill its victims after provoking a high fever, they say.

So far 16 people have died out of the 51 Ebola cases detected in Uganda since September.

A similar outbreak has killed at least 26 people in DR Congo's West Kasai region in recent weeks, officials there report.:tiphat:
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http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3045&art_id=nw20071201120157173C288597

 

[HenryN]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Ebola outbreak spreading
02/12/2007 15:58 - (SA

Kampala - The Ebola outbreak that has killed 18 people in western Uganda appears to be spreading, officials said on Sunday, as authorities examined a sample taken from a dead patient in the south of the country.
Government officials told AFP that the disease, which flared in September, had spread to three new zones in the impoverished Bundibugyo district near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Virologists were meanwhile examining a sample taken from a suspected victim who died overnight in Mbarara region, 160km southeast of the affected district.
Medics flee
Health officials said several dozen medics and support staff had fled the Bundibugyo when their co-workers became infected with the virus in an outbreak that has already killed 18 people and infected 61.
Virologists were also investigating an isolated patient in the neighbouring Port Portale district as well as the fatality in Mbarara.
"There are fears that the disease has spread," said a top health ministry official, who requested to remain unnamed.
"We are waiting for the results from the samples," he said of the two cases that have spread panic in the east African nation.
The disease, which is fatal in 90% of cases, is spread by contact of body fluids, primarily contamination of blood.
Unknown strain
Meanwhile, epidemiologists and virologists are in Bundibugyo district to try to trace backwards the source of the virus as part of a campaign to avoid future outbreaks.
Authorities say the outbreak was an unknown strain after analysis was done on tissue samples at the laboratories of the Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control.
Known Ebola sub-types usually attack capillaries and blood vessel linings, draining the body of blood through openings, leaving the patient to die in shock, doctors say.
But the new Uganda subtype, which provokes high fever, kills victims without much loss of blood.

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2231444,00.html

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Spread may be exacerbated by asymptomatic carriers - this from the Lancet

The Lancet 2000; 355:2210-2215
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02405-3

Human asymptomatic Ebola infection and strong inflammatory responseDr EM Leroy DVM a , S Baize PhD a, VE Volchkov PhD b, SP Fisher-Hoch MD c, M-C Georges-Courbot MD a, J Lansoud-Soukate PhD a, M Capron PhD d, P Debré MD e, JB McCormick and AJ Georges MD a

SummaryBackground

Ebola virus is one of the most virulent pathogens, killing a very high proportion of patients within 5–7 days. Two outbreaks of fulminating haemorrhagic fever occurred in northern Gabon in 1996, with a 70% case-fatality rate. During both outbreaks we identified some individuals in direct contact with sick patients who never developed symptoms. We aimed to determine whether these individuals were indeed infected with Ebola virus, and how they maintained asymptomatic status.
MethodsBlood was collected from 24 close contacts of symptomatic patients. These asymptomatic individuals were sampled 2, 3, or 4 times during a 1-month period after the first exposure to symptomatic patients. Serum samples were analysed for the presence of Ebola antigens, virus-specific IgM and IgG (by ELISA and western blot), and different cytokines and chemokines. RNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and reverse-transcriptase-PCR assays were done to amplify RNA of Ebola virus. PCR products were then sequenced.

Findings
11 of 24 asymptomatic individuals developed both IgM and IgG responses to Ebola antigens, indicating viral infection. Western-blot analysis showed that IgG responses were directed to nucleoprotein and viral protein of 40 kDa. The glycoprotein and viral protein of 24 kDa genes showed no nucleotide differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. Asymptomatic individuals had a strong inflammatory response characterised by high circulating concentrations of cytokines and chemokines.

Interpretation
This study showed that asymptomatic, replicative Ebola infection can and does occur in human beings. The lack of genetic differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals suggest that asymptomatic Ebola infection did not result from viral mutations.

Elucidation of the factors related to the genesis of the strong inflammatory response occurring early during the infectious process in these asymptomatic individuals could increase our understanding of the disease.

 

[HenryN]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12020703/Ebola_Uganda_Spread.html

 

[Treyfish]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Doctor, 3 nurses catch Ebola
JOSEPH MUGISHA & AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA
BUNDIBUGYO/KAMPALA
AS the unusual Ebola strain identified in the southwestern district of Bundibugyo continues to take its toll, four health workers were reported to have been taken ill yesterday.
The District Ebola Task Force Chairman, Mr Samuel Kazinga, told Sunday Monitor yesterday that the four health workers include three nurses and a doctor, all attached to Bundibugyo Hospital. He said four other new cases had been recorded at Kikyo Health Centre IV.
?It is really unfortunate that those admitted at the hospital include our medical superintendent, Dr Stephen Ssesanga,? he said.
Sixteen people have so far been reported dead and 51 others infected, according to Mr Kazinga. However, unofficial reports continue to place the number of the dead at 30 while new recorded cases are seven.
Mr Kazinga, who is also the Bundibugyo RDC, said the task force had set up two patient isolation centres: one at Kikyo Health Centre IV and the other at Bundibugyo Hospital.
On Friday morning, the International Emergency Response Team arrived in the district to trace contacts of the deadly Ebola patients. More perplexing is that the Ebola type in Bundibugyo is ?completely different? from the four known subtypes of the haemorrhagic fever namely; Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Reston (that only affects monkeys) and Ebola Tai (Ivory Coast), according to medical experts.
Ebola has since spread to at least 14 villages. They include Kabango, Ntandi , Butolya, Kikyo, Kizufo, Bugharama, Butantagua , Bulhambago, Bundimwali I, Buyaya, Bugharama II and Bulhambaghiri.
Asked whether they would consider quarantining the district, Mr Kazinga said the situation was still controllable.
Ebola National Task Force Chairman, Dr Sam Okware, said on Friday that the Ministry of Health had dispatched an ambulance and a consignment of personnel protection equipment (PPE) like gloves and disinfectants to help the response team.
He said part of the response team led by Dr Jackson Amone was expected back on Friday. ?The team went for among other things to search for the index case which would help us establish the origin of this breed of Ebola,? said Dr Okware, a veteran of many public medical emergencies in Uganda.
Ebola last struck Uganda in October 2000 in the north and parts of Bunyoro region killing 224 people. :tiphat:
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/sun_news/Doctor_3_nurses_catch_Ebola.shtml

 

[Treyfish]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width=480 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=headline1 colSpan=2>Ebola: Red Cross sends team to Bundibugyo </TD></TR><TR><TD>Sunday, 2nd December, 2007</TD><TD align=right><!-- E-mail and Print Article --></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>By Raymond Baguma

THE Uganda Red Cross Society has sent an assessment team to Bundibugyo district to support the Ministry of Health in containing the deadly Ebola hemorrhagic disease.

A total of 100 volunteers, who participated in containing Ebola in Gulu district in 2000, were also sent to the area following the death of 16 people.
The Red Cross will sensitise the community about the disease through door-to-door sessions as part of the preventive measures.

They also identify suspected Ebola cases and report them to the Ministry of Health, according to a statement issued by the secretary-general, Alice Uwase Anukur.
?As part of our operations, re-integration in the communities will be done to ensure that households with suspected cases are not discriminated within the communities as this causes stigma and psychological torture,? she said. :tiphat:

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http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/600188

 

[HenryN]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Uganda

30 November 2007
The Ministry of Health (MoH), Uganda, has confirmed an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, in Bundibugyo District, western Uganda. As of 28 November, 51 suspected cases, including 16 deaths have been reported. Among the reported cases, 3 health care workers were also infected, including one fatality. Cases are being hospitalized at Kikyo and Bundibugyo.
Laboratory analysis undertaken at the National Reference Laboratories and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, USA has confirmed the presence of a new species of Ebola virus in samples taken from cases associated with the outbreak.
Based on initial field investigations, the MoH/WHO Country office has reported that the outbreak might have been ongoing since Sept 2007. A national task force comprising MoH, WHO and other international partners in the field, is coordinating the response to this outbreak. WHO Country office is assisting the MOH national field team and the District health officials.

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2007_11_30a/en/index.html

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="480"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="headline1">Ebola: Mbarara, Fort Portal put on high alert</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sunday, 2nd December, 2007</td> <td align="right"> <!-- E-mail and Print Article -->
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> <table align="center"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center">

</td> </tr><tr> <td> Kabarole RDC Kakonge Kambarage addresses the district Ebola task force
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SIX more people have been confirmed infected with the deadly Ebola virus, health officials said yesterday. This puts the number of infected people at 58, sixteen of whom have died since the outbreak of the deadly disease in August.

The Commissioner for Health Services in the health ministry, Dr.six new cases were admitted at Bundibugyo Hospital after they attended the burial of an Ebola victim. Another two suspected cases were yesterday reported in Fort Portal. Sam Okware, said the

A 13-year-old school boy came from Kyenjojo district with the mother yesterday morning and was admitted to Virika hospital, according to the Kabarole district director of medical services, Dr. Joa Okech. The boy, who was only identified as Katusabe, was temporarily admitted to Virika, where he was resuscitated and transferred to Buhinga Hospital.

At Virika, the outpatient room was turned into an emergency ward to accommodate the boy. When the visited the ward, the door to the room bore a warning: �Do not enter unprotected�.
The second patient, a woman, also reported to Virika late afternoon, but she was sent to Buhinga hospital, according Dr. Musa Walakira, who is handling the cases. The woman�s identity could not be readily established.
�She was vomiting blood when she went to Virika, so they suspected Ebola and sent her to Buhinga Government Referral Hospital where an isolation centre has been set up.

Another suspected patient bled to death in Mbarara yesterday, Dr. Okware said.
He said ministry of health officials picked blood samples for testing. He said he had also instructed a quick burial of the body.
Meanwhile, the head of Nyahuka Health Centre 4 in Bundibugyo district, Dr. Richard Ssesanga Kaddu, his deputy Jonah Kule and two medical officers have been isolated after they complained that they felt unwell.

Okware, explained that Ssesanga was isolated at his home in Bundibugyo, while Kule who had traveled to Kampala, was put in the ministry�s isolation facility in the city.

He could not say whether Ssesanga, Kule, Kisughu, an enrolled nurse and Amon Kule, an ophthalmic officer, were infected with Ebola.

�We have taken specimen from them and it will be sometime before we can tell,� he said, before adding that the medical officers were improving steadily.
He lamented that there was a shortage of medical personnel in Bundibugyo, affecting the out-patients department most. �We need additional personnel to run the hospitals.�

Dr. Scot, a missionary, now heads the case management unit, while the two isolation units have each got seven personnel.

In Fort Portal, a district task force has been set up comprising the top district officials, medical personnel and some NGOs to handle the Ebola emergency.



In addition, two isolation centres have been set up, one at Buhinga in Fort-Portal town, the other at Bukuku, about 10km on Fort-Portal Bundibugyo road.

The RDC, Kakonge Kambarage, said they suspected that there could be more infected people who are still in the incubation period.

An official from the US Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta is set to collect samples from the patients in Fort-Portal today for testing.

The Minister of Defence, Dr. Crispus Kiyonga is also in Fort-Portal and Kasese to sensitise the population about the virus.

Kiyonga on Saturday asked local leaders to start public awareness campaigns.
�Once infected with Ebola, chances of survival are 50%,� the former health minister told sub-county and town council leaders at Virina Gardens in Kasese town.

He advised that Ebola victims be buried in fluid-proof bags soon after they die. He asked the public to look out for such symptoms as headache, high fever, a rash, red eyes, bleeding, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Participants expressed fear that the virus could be incubating in Kasese and Kabarole among people who have been going Bundibugyo to bury their relatives since the disease outbreak in August.

Meanwhile, the UN Children�s Fund (UNICEF) has given sh45m to Bundibugyo district to fight the disease, the chief administrative officer, Elias Byamungu, said on Saturday. Byamungu said other agencies, including Oxfam, had agreed to offer more support.

Uganda was last hit by an Ebola epidemic in 2000, when 425 people caught it and just over half of them died, including Dr. Mathew Lukwiya. An outbreak in neighbouring Congo this year infected up to 264 people, killing 187.
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[Treyfish]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

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New Strain of Ebola Virus Kills 16 People in Uganda, WHO Says

By Simeon Bennett
<!-- WARNING: #foreach: $wnstory.ATTS: null at /bb/data/web/templates/webmacro_en/20601202.wm:289.2 --><!-- WARNING: #foreach: $wnstory.ATTS: null at /bb/data/web/templates/webmacro_en/20601202.wm:303.19 -->Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ebola hemorrhagic fever has killed at least 16 people and may have infected another 35 in Uganda, the World Health Organization said.
An outbreak of the disease in the east African nation's Bundibugyo district may have infected 51 people, including three health-care workers, one of whom died, the WHO said in a statement on its Web site. Samples of the virus analyzed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta show the strain responsible for the outbreak is a ``new species'' of the virus, the WHO said.
The animal-borne virus killed 1,301 of the 1,880 people known to be infected between 1976, when the disease was first seen on the Sudan-Congo border, and 2005, during an outbreak in Congo. Ebola causes high fevers, diarrhea, vomiting and often leads to severe internal bleeding. The virus probably resides in animals in the rainforests of the African continent and in areas of the Western Pacific region, the WHO said.
The outbreak may have started in September, the WHO said in a Nov. 30 statement. Two more people have died of the virus, bringing the total death count to 18, Agence France-Presse reported today, citing Sam Zaramba, the nation's top government physician.
The disease, named after a river near where it was first recognized, is often passed from contact with contaminated blood or body fluids. Outbreaks have been found in Africa, where some diets include primates.
There's no treatment or vaccine for the disease:tiphat:

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601202&sid=azF9yZOiE4hE&refer=healthcare

 

[Laidback Al]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

General location of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on">Uganda</st1:country-region> in Africa and a map showing the locations of the four Districts in western <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Uganda</st1lace></st1:country-region> where Ebola has been identified or suspected as noted in post #31 above. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
Bundibugyo<o></o>
Kyenjojo<o></o>
Mbarara<o></o>
Karbarole (Virika and <st1lace w:st="on"><st1laceType w:st="on">Fort</st1laceType> <st1laceName w:st="on">Portal</st1laceName></st1lace>)<o></o>

<o></o>
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[HenryN]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Source: Xinhua News Agency
Date: 03 Dec 2007

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<!--toolbar--><!--firstLine-->Ebola death toll rises to 18 in Uganda


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KAMPALA, Dec3, 2007 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Two more people have died of the deadly Ebola virus in an outbreak in the Uganda's southwestern district of Bundibugyo, bringing the death toll to 18, an official from the Health Ministry has said.
Sam Okware, the commissioner for Health Services, told Xinhua by telephone on Monday that in one week, with six more new cases recorded, the number of infection has risen to 58.
"We have had two more deaths in the last 24 hours, and the disease continues to spread. The six people were infected from a burial. This is because some people have not avoided crowds. We have restricted people from shaking hands when greeting and should avoid congestion in taxis," Sam Zaramba, the director general of health services, was quoted by Daily Monitor on Monday.
"The main challenge we are facing is detecting cases and following up who among those made contact with the patients," Zaramba said.
The Ugandan government last week dispatched a team of health officials from the Ministry of Health headquarters in Kampala, with over 10 other international health experts, to reinforce rapid response capability in the troubled district.
Zaramba said that the government has so far created two isolation centers one in Bundibugyo Hospital and the other at Kikyo Health Center with at least seven trained staff at each.
"We advise people to instantly report Ebola cases for early treatment and people should not be close to each other. We have not gotten any new case at Kikyo. All the six have come from Bundibugyo only," he said.
It has emerged that the Ebola outbreak in the district has created a state of panic in the larger part of western Uganda. This has consequently paralyzed businesses and social activities in the neighboring districts of Kasese, Fort Portal, and Kabarole as residents choose to confine themselves in their homes.
Zaramba advised people to bury the dead immediately, avoid feasting at funerals, and keep funeral services short.
The ministry of health last Thursday confirmed that the " strange" disease that hit parts of Bundibugyo district since August as Ebola.
The disease is characterized by very high fever, diarrhoea, vomiting associated with red eyes and a measles-like rash. It is spread by close contact with the body fluids of infected persons or people who have died of it.
Ebola is one of the most virulent viral diseases known to mankind, causing death in 50 to 90 percent of all clinically ill cases.
The Ebola virus was first identified in a western equatorial province of Sudan and in a nearby region of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1976 after significant epidemics in Yambuku, northern Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nzara, southern Sudan.
According to World Health Organization, Ebola strain identified in western Uganda is "completely different" from the four known sub types of the heamorrhagic fever namely, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Reston (that only affects monkeys) and Ebola Tai ( Ivory Coast).
The last outbreak of Ebola in Uganda killed 224 people from October 2000 to March 2001, which started in northern Uganda and later spread into other parts of the country. An outbreak in neighboring Congo this year infected up to 264 people, killing 187.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/PANA-79JJSV?OpenDocument


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[HenryN]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
Date: 03 Dec 2007

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<!--toolbar--><!--firstLine-->Uganda: Fears of Ebola spread as more cases reported


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KAMPALA, 3 December 2007 (IRIN) - Medical authorities in Uganda have expressed concern over the possible spread of the deadly Ebola disease in the western region after suspected cases were reported in two neighbouring districts.
Sam Zaramba, the director of medical services in the health ministry, told IRIN on 3 December that a patient with symptoms similar to those reported in Bundibugyo district, the epicentre of the outbreak, died on 2 December at Mbarara hospital, farther southwest, causing fears that the disease was spreading out of Bundibugyo.
Another suspected case had also been isolated at Virika hospital in Fort Portal district, next to Bundibugyo, Zaramba said.
"We are waiting for the results of the samples for the two suspected victims," he told IRIN by telephone.
Another medical official, who requested anonymity, said: "There is cause to worry when we start getting these cases overshooting and appearing in other areas because this complicates contact surveillance. One medical officer who worked on the first cases but moved to Kampala [the capital] to attend to personal issues has also fallen sick and was admitted to Mulago [the main hospital in Kampala]; we are trying to follow his contacts."
Several dozen medics and support staff have fled western Uganda after their co-workers became infected with the virus in an outbreak that has already killed 16 people and infected at least 58 others.
A government official in Bundibugyo, Samuel Kazinga, said a quarantine had been declared in all homes in the district that had registered a case in order to control contacts and ease monitoring.
"We are mobilising the public to take precautionary measures through public announcements on the radio and talking to people through community [leaders]," Kazinga said.
He said Bundibugyo had appealed for help but efforts to contain the outbreak, which began in September although it was only identified as Ebola last week, have been hampered by lack of medical personnel.
"We have a shortage of health workers and we need more because those who were there on the ground have been infected: two doctors, a medical officer and a nurse. We are trying to get more medical workers to go to the region and help in the fight," said Zaramba.
Zaramba had initially said two more patients succumbed to the virus on 1 December, bringing the toll to 18. But the health ministry on 3 December revised the number back to 16, saying the two deaths had since been confirmed as due to other causes.
"Cumulatively, we now have 16 deaths and 58 cases," he said.
Patients were quarantined in Bundibugyo hospital's isolation ward near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has had outbreaks of the virulent disease in the past.
"Those admitted are mainly health workers and those who attended to the patients," Zaramba said.
Previous Ebola fatalities among medical workers have been blamed on poor sanitation and hygiene in health centres that lack protective suits, masks, latex gloves and other equipment.
Ebola spreads through body fluids, particularly blood, putting health workers without protective gear at risk. Ebola sub-types usually attack capillaries and blood vessel linings, so patients lose blood rapidly, and die of shock, doctors say.
The new Uganda subtype kills patients by provoking high fever, but without much loss of blood. There is no vaccine or cure for Ebola.
"The situation is not yet under control," Zaramba said. "The main challenge we are facing is detecting cases and following up on those who had contact with the patients."
A team of epidemiologists and virologists arrived in the region on 1 December to try to retrace the source of the virus as part of a campaign to avoid future epidemics.
Authorities said a team of pathogen experts from the Centers for Disease Control in the US were expected in the country on 4 December to beef up the local response to the disease, including bringing laboratory facilities to detect infections more easily.
An outbreak killed at least 170 people in Uganda's northern Gulu district in 2000. Another recent outbreak killed at least 26 people in DRC's West Kasai region.
The Ebola virus was first identified in 1976 in Sudan and in a nearby region of DRC, then Zaire. Outbreaks of Ebola have also occurred in the Ivory Coast and Gabon.
vm/mw
[END]


A selection of IRIN reports are posted on ReliefWeb. Find more IRIN news and analysis at http://www.irinnews.org
Une s?lection d'articles d'IRIN sont publi?s sur ReliefWeb. Trouvez d'autres articles et analyses d'IRIN sur http://www.irinnews.org
This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. Refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use.
Cet article ne refl?te pas n?cessairement les vues des Nations Unies. Voir IRIN droits d'auteur pour les conditions d'utilisation.

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http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LRON-79JKF6?OpenDocument

 

[scottmcpherson]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Dr. Niman,
If you are finding multiple genetic points of similarity between Ebola and H5 avian influenza, is there a concern that Ebola may be able to recombine and present an airborne face?

 

[HenryN]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Dr. Niman,
If you are finding multiple genetic points of similarity between Ebola and H5 avian influenza, is there a concern that Ebola may be able to recombine and present an airborne face?

There are not many Ebola sequences available. The 18 BP match has been present for some time (it was in the first H5N1, isolates in 1959) as well as the original Zaire sequence (from 1976).

Sequences from the recent outbreak have not yet been released.

 

[HenryN]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

<TABLE id=topTools cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Ebola death toll rises to 19 in Uganda</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) ? Three more people have died from a new strain of the Ebola virus in Uganda, bringing the death toll to 19, health officials said Monday. Health workers in the area were fleeing in fear.
The disease has now been detected in five districts in western Uganda, said Dr. Sam Zaramba, director general of Uganda's health service.
The first case was reported on Nov. 10 in Bundibugyo district, on the Congolese border and about 200 miles west of the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
Simon Atuhe, a local official in Bundibugyo, said health workers were abandoning their jobs in fear.
"There is a shortage of manpower because some health workers have fled," he said. "We are in a crisis."

Tests conducted on some of the samples by a national lab in Uganda and confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that the virus belongs to a different subtype than the four already known, the World Health Organization said.
Ebola typically kills most of those it strikes through massive blood loss, and has no cure or treatment. It is spread through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person, or objects that have been contaminated with infected secretions.
The last previous outbreak of Ebola in Uganda occurred in October 2000 when 173 people died and a total of 426 people were diagnosed with it in the north of the country.
WHO says more than 1,000 people have died of Ebola since the virus was first identified in 1976 in Sudan and Congo. Primates, hunted by many central Africans for food, can carry the virus.

http://usatoday.printthis.clickabil...2-03-uganda-ebola-deaths_N.htm&partnerID=1660

 

[mordan]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Interesting

http://www.paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/

 

[hawkeye]

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

Re: New Ebola Strain in Uganda May Be Spreading

News source in Cuba reporting 20

Ebola Virus Kills 20 in Uganda

Kampala, Dec 03 (Prensa Latina) A new variant of Ebola virus is hitting the Uganda population with about 20 deaths and 50 new cases reported in the last few hours, noted sources from the Health Ministry

Uganda's director of medical services Sam Zaramba said that the epidemic outbreak appeared first in Bundibugyo region, bordering with Congo Democratic Republic.

Zaramba noted that measures have been taken to isolate the locality and keep sick people in quarantine.

The genetic analysis of the victims revealed that it is a new type of virus, asserted the official.

This haemorrhagic fever is incurable until now and is lethal in 80 percent of the cases.

The disease is transmitted by contact with sick people's fluid or infected animals.

The symptoms are visible bleeding, fever, diarrhoea containing blood, muscle pain and sickness.

hr abo arc mf