Ebola in Uganda: November 30 - December 17, 2007

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Three more die of Ebola, toll reaches 25
By Vision Reporters

THE Ebola death toll climbed to 25 after three people succumbed to the deadly virus on Friday evening. Two patients died in Bundibugyo Hospital, while a third one exhibiting symptoms of Ebola passed away in Kabarole Hospital in Fort Portal.

Medical workers in Bundibugyo said one of the victims was Enock Bwambale, brother to Jeremiah Muhindo, the very first person to die of the disease in the hospital. The other was an old woman.

The patient who died in Kabarole Hospital was admitted during the night, but died in the morning before he could be transferred to the isolation centre in Kichwamba. By Friday evening, there were 116 confirmed cases. Hundreds more were under observation in Bundibugyo District.

The Director General of Medical Services, Dr. Sam Zaramba, on Saturday confirmed that seven more suspects were being looked after at the isolation centre in Kichwamba. He said four of the suspected patients were remand prisoners from Katojo. Three others were contacts of the prisoners.

To battle the ravaging virus, the health ministry has acquired a helicopter for Ebola surveillance. More medical experts, including 13 expatriate doctors, have arrived in the district to boost the team already on the ground.

The new arrivals include two doctors from the World Health Organisation, two from Afronet and four from the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta in the US.
The health ministry has also brought in more doctors and nurses from Kampala and Gulu. To bolster the ministry?s efforts, the UPDF has deployed three medical workers, the Police one doctor, while M?decins Sans Fronti?res brought in four nurses from Gulu.

Kenya has also dispatched a special medical team of four to join the International Disaster Response Unit.
Five sub-counties in Bundibugyo District with an estimated population of 250,000 people, are affected by the Ebola outbreak.

Mass weddings involving 42 couples in various parishes of the Catholic Diocese of Kasese, slated for December, have been suspended.

But Samuel Kazinga, the Bundibugyo RDC, who is the District Ebola Taskforce chairman, said the epidemic in the district was gradually coming under control.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is trying to establish what triggered the outbreak. The Commissioner of Health Services, Dr Sam Okware, told Sunday Vision it was unlikely it was caused by a goat, as was earlier claimed. He said the animal died after eating a poisonous plant and the people who ate the goat died after eating the poisonous meat. ?It was a coincidence that Ebola broke out in the same place,? Okware said.

KASESE
A family, consisting of a couple and their three children fled to Hima in Kasese, when a medical team in Bundibugyo tried to isolate them. They had been in contact with an Ebola victim. The Police in Kasese is trying to trace them.

The Kasese Ebola taskforce, chaired by Resident District Commissioner Capt. James Mwesigye, has banned social gatherings, including wedding parties, disco dances, religious crusades, video shows, drinking joints and public rallies. The task force has also designated Bwera Hospital as the main isolation centre.

MALABA
Travellers to Kenya arriving at the Malaba on the Kenyan side of the border, have to undergo compulsory screening for Ebola, before being allowed to cross into Kenya.

Kenya?s immigration officer at Malaba, Simon Makworo, confirmed the decision to screen all visitors from Uganda following the Ebola outbreak.
All people arriving from Uganda are required to first report to the Public Health Office at the border before going to the Immigration Office.

KYAMBOGO
There was panic at Kyambogo University when students learnt that 14 of their colleagues, who come from Bundibugyo, had travelled back home to attend burials of relatives who had succumbed to Ebola.

But according to the Bundibugyo district chairman, Jackson Bambalira, only one of the students, Robert Bwambale Kalemire, had attended the burial of his relative in the district.

MUBENDE
In Mubende Hospital, a 10-year-old boy has been admitted in critical condition showing symptoms of Ebola. The district surveillance officer, Francis Masereka, said it was not confirmed if it was an Ebola case. ?We have the case reported to the ministry and they have promised that a team of professionals is coming to Mubende soon,? he said.

NURSES? DEMO
Meanwhile, in Kampala, nurses and midwives demonstrated on Friday to protest their poor working conditions. The demonstrators walked from the Ministry of Health headquarters in Wandegeya to the council office in Makerere Kivulu, where they addressed the press. The demonstration was staged by the Uganda National Association for Nurses and Midwives.

?We have lost four medical workers in the past few weeks,? said Janet Obuni, the association?s president. ?We appeal to the Government to ensure that the affected hospitals are provided adequate protective materials and supplies as a matter of urgency.?

By Anne Mugisha, John Thawite, Matthias Mugisha, Arthur Asiimwe, Reuben Olita, Andrew Ssenyonga and Luke Kagiri


Published on: Sunday, 9th December, 2007

http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=123&newsId=601070

 

[Treyfish]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Plea to stem Ebola outbreak

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<!-- // .article-tools --><!-- End Story Toolbar-->December 10, 2007

<!-- // .module-subheader -->KAMPALA: Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has urged people to stop shaking hands to try to halt an epidemic of Ebola fever that has caused 22 deaths.
"Ebola spreads through contact. For the time being, people should resort to jambo (waving)," Mr Museveni told the state-owned newspaper New Vision. "If I don't shake your hand, it doesn't mean I don't like you."
The Government said suspected cases of Ebola - most of them in western Bundibugyo district, bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo - had risen to 101 by the weekend. They included two in Kampala, one of them a doctor, who died.
A further 338 people were being monitored because they had come into contact with those infected by the virulent haemorrhagic fever. Doctors say the virus can be passed through contact with an infected person.
The outbreak began in August and has spread panic since it was confirmed last week. Eleven health workers treating Ebola patients have contracted the disease. Four of them died.
Ebola is spread by contact with body fluids, including saliva. Kenya, Rwanda and Congo are screening travellers entering their borders with Uganda.
However, Ugandans remain free to move anywhere, raising fears the disease could spread outside Bundibugyo, through the East African country's highly mobile population. :tiphat: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22895453-32682,00.html

 

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12090701/Ebola_Super_Fatal_Links.html

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

"...Initial sequence data on the Ebola species in Uganda indicated it has 75% homology with earlier strains..."

Can you briefly explain this please? What does the sequence data suggest for the other 25%?

 

[Treyfish]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=447 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>Medical workers union insists on more protection

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</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center align=middle colSpan=2 height=21></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>First published: 20071209 2:52:18 AM EST
Ultimate Media

Government is asked to direct much of the six billion shillings allocated to contain deadly Ebola outbreak in western Uganda to wards the provision of protective gear for medical workers handling suspected Ebola cases.

Four medical workers have succumbed to Ebola virus after coming into contact with Ebola patients.

Uganda Medical Workers Union chairman, Apollo Nyangasi says much as it is medical workers duty to render health care government should as well provide necessary equipment and environment to work in.

Nyangasi was addressing members of the public in Kampala last evening.

Meanwhile in Masaka district a team of American medical workers arrives to sensitize fellow medical workers on how to handle suspected Ebola cases.

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</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>First published: 20071209 2:52:18 AM EST :tiphat: </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
http://www.ugpulse.com//articles/daily/news.asp?ID=4561

 

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

"...Initial sequence data on the Ebola species in Uganda indicated it has 75% homology with earlier strains..."

Can you briefly explain this please? What does the sequence data suggest for the other 25%?

The sequence data on the latest outbreak have not been released. Earlier the examples of recombination involved two relatively closely related Ebola Zaire sequences. However, the Ebola Uganda is quite distinct from the 4 previosu Ebola species. The Zaire sequence has a region of identity with H5 (including some H5N1), and this region is somewhat conserved between the previous Ebola species.

However, detail of the currrent series will not be known until the sequences are released.

 

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Earlier story

Four Doctors Die Of Ebola


The deadly Ebola disease, which has claimed over 90 people, has now added one doctor and three other health workers. The three more health workers have died in Bundibugyo district. They have been identified as Rose Bulindigya, a senior nursing officer at Bundibugyo Hospital and Joshua Kule, the medical clinical officer there and one Swaibu, a clinical officer at Kityo Health Centre IV.

This brings to four the number of medical officers killed by Ebola since 8:00pm of Tuesday.
family Filoviridae, and the common name for the disease which they cause, Ebola hemorrhagic fever. The viruses are characterised by a long, filamentous morphology surrounded by a lipid viral envelope. Ebola viruses are morphologically similar to the Marburg virus, also in the family Filoviridae, and share similar disease symptoms. Ebola has caused a number of serious and highly publicized outbreaks since its discovery.
The Ebola virus first emerged in 1976 in simultaneous outbreaks in Sudan and Zaire.

SYMPTOMS OF EBOLA
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is potentially lethal and encompasses a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise, and sometimes internal and external bleeding. Mortality rates are extremely high, with the human case-fatality rate ranging from 50% - 89%, according to viral subtype. The cause of death is usually due to hypovolemic shock or organ failure.

Because Ebola is potentially lethal and since no approved vaccine or treatment is available as of now, Ebola is classified as a biosafety level 4 agent, as well as a Category A bioterrorism agent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It has the potential to be weaponized for use in biological warfare and was investigated for this particular use by both the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War years.

Its effectiveness as a biological warfare agent is compromised by its extreme deadliness and its quickness: a typical outbreak spreads through a small village or hospital, affects the entire population, and then runs out of potential hosts, burning out before it reaches a larger community.


SUBTYPES OF EBOLA
Microbiologists have defined several subtypes of Ebola. The following list of five is not exclusive.

(i) Zaire Ebolavirus
The Zaire Ebolavirus has the highest mortality rate, up to 90% in some epidemics, with an average of approximately 83% mortality over 27 years. Its case-fatality rates were 88% in 1976, 100% in 1977, 59% in 1994, 81% in 1995, 73% in 1996, 80% in 2001-2002 and 90% in 2003. There have been more outbreaks of Za?re Ebolavirus than any other strain.

The first outbreak took place on August 26, 1976 in Yambuku, a town in the north of Congo.
Two Belgian nuns working in Yambuku as nurses also died in the same outbreak.

(ii) Sudan Ebolavirus

Sudan Ebolavirus was the second strand of Ebola reported in 1976. It originated amongst cotton factory workers in Nzara, Sudan. The first case reported was a worker exposed to a potential natural reservoir at the cotton factory. Scientists tested all animals and insects in response to this, however none tested positive for the virus. The carrier is still unknown.
A second case involved a nightclub owner in Nzara, Sudan. The local hospital, Maridi, tested and attempted to treat the patient; however, nothing was successful, and he died.
The most recent outbreak of Sudan Ebolavirus occurred in May 2004. As of May 2004, 20 cases of Sudan Ebolavirus were reported in Yambio County, Sudan, with five deaths resulting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the virus a few days later.

The average fatality rates for Sudan Ebolavirus were 54% in 1976, 68% in 1979, and 53% in 2000/2001. The average case-fatality rate is 53.76%.

(iii) Reston Ebolavirus

It was first discovered in November 1989 in a group of 100 Crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) imported from the Philippines to Reston, Virginia. A parallel infected shipment was also sent to Philadelphia. This strain was highly lethal in monkeys, but did not cause any fatalities in humans. Six of the Reston primate handlers tested positive for the virus, two due to previous exposure.
A high rate of co-infection with Simian Hemorrhagic Fever (SHF) was present in all infected monkeys. No human illness has resulted from these two outbreaks.

(iv)Tai (Ivory Coast) Ebolavirus

This subtype was first discovered amongst chimpanzees of the Tai Forest in Ivory Coast, Africa. On November 1, 1994, the corpses of two chimpanzees were found in the forest. Necropsies showed blood within the heart to be liquid and brown, no obvious marks seen on the organs, and one presented lungs filled with liquid blood. Studies of tissues taken from the chimps showed results similar to human cases during the 1976 Ebola outbreaks in Congo and Sudan.

(vi)Bundibugyo Ebolavirus

On 30th November 2007, the Uganda Ministry of Health confirmed an outbreak of Ebola in the Bundibugyo district. After confirmation of samples tested by the United States National Reference Laboratories and the CDC, the World Health Organisation has confirmed the presence of a new species of the Ebola virus.


SYMPTOMS OF EBOLA

Symptoms are varied and often appear suddenly. Initial symptoms include high fever (at least 38.8?C), severe headache, muscle, joint, or abdominal pain, severe weakness and exhaustion, sore throat, nausea, and dizziness.

Before an outbreak is suspected, these early symptoms are easily mistaken for malaria, typhoid fever, dysentery, influenza, or various bacterial infections, which are all far more common and less reliably fatal.
Ebola may progress to cause more serious symptoms, such as diarrhea, dark or bloody faeces, vomiting blood, red eyes due to distention and hemorrhage of sclerotic arterioles, petechia, maculopapular rash, and purpura.


The span of time from onset of symptoms to death is usually between seven and 14 days. By the second week of infection, patients will either defervesce (the fever will lessen) or undergo systemic multi-organ failure. Mortality rates are generally high, ranging from 50% - 90%.

Transmission

Among humans, the virus is transmitted by direct contact with infected body fluids, or to a lesser extent, skin or mucus membrane contact. The incubation period can be anywhere from two to 21 days, but is generally between five and 10 days.
Although airborne transmission between monkeys has been demonstrated by an accidental outbreak in a laboratory located in Virginia, USA, there is very limited evidence for human-to-human airborne transmission in any reported epidemics.
So far, all epidemics of Ebola have occurred in sub-optimal hospital conditions, where practices of basic hygiene and sanitation are often either luxuries or unknown to caretakers and where disposable needles and autoclaves are unavailable or too expensive.

In modern hospitals with disposable needles and knowledge of basic hygiene and barrier nursing techniques, Ebola rarely spreads on such a large scale.

Due to lack of proper equipment and hygienic practices, large scale epidemics occur mostly in poor, isolated areas without modern hospitals or well-educated medical staff. Many areas where the infectious reservoir exists have just these characteristics. In such environments, all that can be done is to immediately cease all needle-sharing or use without adequate sterilization procedures, to isolate patients, and to observe strict barrier nursing procedures with the use of a medical rated disposable face mask, gloves, goggles, and a gown at all times. This should be strictly enforced for all medical personnel and visitors.

In isolated settings such as a quarantined hospital or a remote village, most victims are infected shortly after the first case of infection is present. In addition, the quick onset of symptoms from the time the disease becomes contagious in an individual makes it easy to identify sick individuals and limits an individual?s ability to spread the disease by traveling.

Although bodies of the deceased are still infectious, many doctors have implemented measures to properly dispose of dead bodies in spite of some traditional local burial rituals.

Vaccines
Vaccines have been produced for both Ebola and Marburg that were 100% effective in protecting a group of monkeys from the disease.
Early human vaccine efforts, like the one at NIAID in 2003, have so far not reported any successes.

http://www.redpepper.ug/news.php?item=1585

 

[Treyfish]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Ebola one of Uganda's big fears

Uganda News.Net
Saturday 8th December, 2007​

A deadly epidemic of Ebola fever in an area of Uganda bordering with DR Congo, has caused President Yoweri Museveni to urge people not th shake hands.

Because Ebola spreads through contact, he has told his people to simply wave instead.

Twenty two deaths have been registered from the Ebola epidemic and over one hundred people are still infected.

Eleven health workers treating Ebola patients have contracted the disease. Four of them have died.

More than three hundred people are also being monitored after coming into contact with those infected by the virulent haemorrhagic fever.

The outbreak began in August but was only confirmed last week.

Panic has been spreading ever since.:tiphat: http://www.ugandanews.net/story/307437

 

[Treyfish]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

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Uganda: Crisis in Uganda As Ebola Spreads

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The Nation (Nairobi)
9 December 2007
Posted to the web 9 December 2007
Tabu Butagira, Hussein Bogere And Joseph Mugisa
Kampala
Suspected cases of the lethal Ebola haemorrhagic fever have been reported in seven more districts, the Ugandan government announced on Friday.
State minister for primary health care, Dr Emmanuel Otaala said eight cases had been registered in the districts of Adjumani in West Nile, Mbale in the east, Masaka and Mubende in Buganda region and Kasese, Fort Portal (Kabarole) and Kanungu in western Uganda.

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The case in Ajumani involves an unidentified UPDF soldier. But Otaala said: "Alert cases do not necessarily mean they are (confirmed) cases of Ebola but they ring a bell in our minds that there is something to investigate," the minister said.
Dr Otaala said reported Ebola infections countrywide since August had surged to 101 while deaths from the virulent disease stagnated at 22.
The Cabinet in an emergency sitting chaired by the Prime Minister Apollo Nsibambi on Friday approved USh6 billion to handle the spate of Ebola, plague, meningococcal meningitis, suspected cholera and yellow fever/Hepatitis A epidemics currently ravaging different parts of the country.
But as Ebola threatens to engulf the whole country, acting government Spokesman Dr James Nsaba Buturo said the Cabinet threw out pleas by lawmakers on Thursday that a state of emergency be declared to draw international attention to the health crisis.
"The work (declaration of) state of emergency is not in our vocabulary because we (government) is on top of things (containing the epidemic)," Buturo said.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=9 width=180 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=right><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" bgColor=#000000 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%" bgColor=#ffffff border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=basic-seventy align=middle>Relevant Links</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%" bgColor=#ffffff border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=nav align=middle>East Africa
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But it emerged on Saturday that Mr Moses Natukunda, a guard with Delta Security suspected to be ill with Ebola, was on Thursday night rushed and admitted to Mulago Isolation Ward; the same unit where celebrated Kikyo Health centre IV Medical Superintendent Dr Jonah Kule died of the haemorrhagic fever four days ago.
"He (Natukunda) was brought in by his employers, Delta Security, after vomiting and passing out blood," Dr Ayati Omoruto, a community health officer at Mulago hospital, said.
A group of Kyambogo University students who had moved to attend the funeral of a relative in the Ebola hit western Uganda have caused a scare at the campus, forcing health officials to put them under medical observation.:tiphat: http://allafrica.com/stories/200712090084.html
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[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Jonah was the primary doctor for Muhindo Jeremiah, an older gentleman who had been active in visiting the sick in Kikyo then fell ill in Bundibugyo. A week and a half ago Muhindo died. A few days later Jonah went to Kampala on personal business;

http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/2007/12/grief-and-fear.html

 

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Jonah was the primary doctor for Muhindo Jeremiah, an older gentleman who had been active in visiting the sick in Kikyo then fell ill in Bundibugyo. A week and a half ago Muhindo died. A few days later Jonah went to Kampala on personal business;

http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/2007/12/grief-and-fear.html

Earlier report:

Strange Disease in Bundibugyo


The Monitor (Kampala)

NEWS
27 November 2007 </B>
Posted to the web 26 November 2007

By Felix Basiime
Bundibugyo

A STRANGE disease in Bundibugyo has claimed the life of the a secretary general for the district's NGO Forum.
Mr Jeremiah Muhindo died on Friday at Bundibugyo Hospital after a short illness, according to the District Health Officer, Dr William Sikyewunda.

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Mr Muhindo who has been running a drug shop in town and also a member of the Red Cross branch developed symptoms similar to those who have died of the strange disease here" said Mr Sikyewunda on phone.
The strange disease has not been confirmed through the blood samples taken by the Ministry of Health to South Africa. The joint medical team from Kampala and Bundibugyo confirmed last week that there were 43 cases that have been affected by the deadly disease.
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http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200711262103.html

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Does anyone know if the "strange disease" infections/deaths totals are included in the current ebola totals being published?

 

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Does anyone know if the "strange disease" infections/deaths totals are included in the current ebola totals being published?

Most are not.

 

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Does anyone know if the "strange disease" infections/deaths totals are included in the current ebola totals being published?

Cumulative cases: 106 (note that he discussed with the CDC the fact that most of the early cases had been excluded. This is understandable, they are retrospective diagnoses, but it is good to remember that this number is at best a guess. It does not include the first dozen (?20 ?30) cases from the Kikyo area, before a real epidemic had been recognized. On the other hand it probably includes a number of non-Ebola cases that have similar non-specific symptoms.)
http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/2007/12/ebola-bundibugyo-saturday-numbers-and.html

 

[Anne]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071208/wl_africa_afp/healthugandaebola_071208215026


KAMPALA (AFP) - A dreaded Ebola outbreak has killed two people, bringing the toll to 25 in western Uganda, an official said Saturday, as health teams battled to contain the virulent strain in the region.

Health authorities continued to monitor hundreds of quarantined people who had contacts with the Ebola victims in Bundibugyo district, home to 250,000 people and the outbreak's epicentre.
"Two people died last night in Bundibugyo, bringing the death toll to 25," said Sam Okware, a health ministry official heading the battle against the disease

snip

Experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were studying new blood and tissue samples from western Kanungu and Kasese districts and northwestern Adjuman district for possible Ebola infections.

 

[Niko]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Does anyone know if the "strange disease" infections/deaths totals are included in the current ebola totals being published?

As Dr. Niman posted, who knows.

Here is the oldest article I found so far...

http://www.reuters.com/article/mapNews/idUSL1668887620071116

Mysterious fever kills 14 in western Uganda

Fri Nov 16, 2007 9:59am EST

By Tim Cocks
KAMPALA (Reuters) - A mysterious fever has killed 14 people and infected 37 others in western Uganda over the last three months, a Health Ministry official said on Friday.
Sam Okware said the fever, though deadly, was not haemorrhagic. Blood samples from it had already tested negative for the killer Marburg virus that infected three people in a nearby district in August, killing one.
**snipped**



http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/598055

<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="480"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="headline1">Western virus contained</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Monday, 19th November, 2007</td> <td align="right"> <!-- E-mail and Print Article --> <table style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="vertical-align: middle;">
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> By Conan Businge

THE mysterious viral outbreak in western Uganda?s Bundibugyo district has been contained, Dr. Sam Okware, the health ministry?s commissioner of health services, has confirmed.

The disease has symptoms similar to Marburg fever ?There are no more infections and deaths have reduced. The patients are also recovering quickly. The viral attack has been contained and we hope there will be no more deaths,? Dr. Okware announced.

By press time, the Centre for Disease Control in the USA had not yet ascertained what the disease was, after analysing the the 20 blood samples Uganda?s health ministry sent them.

One more person died of the virus last week. This raises the death toll to 14 people over the last three months.

?There is a likelihood that it might be rift valley fever, typhus fever or leptospirosis, which comes from contact with rodents,? Dr. Okware explained. He said that if it is rift valley fever there is need for greater care.

?This disease is very infectious since it is transmitted by mosquitoes from animal to animal, and from animals to man.?

Dr. Okware said the viral outbreak had been clustered into three groups. The first he said comprised a family who may have eaten an infected goat. All the 15 family members got infected and four of them, including the boy, died.

The second was of a patient admitted in the labour ward in Kikyo Health Centre and in due course infected five other people with the virus. Four of them died days later.

Okware said the third group got infected after handling bodies of the victims, without any protective gear. Six of the 20 who got infected died.

According to the team from
Bundibugyo, the disease is in 12 villages of the district.
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[Treyfish]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

The Rdc closes its borders with Uganda because of the Ebola virus
Kinshasa, 08/12/2007 / Company 18 dead and 19 persons admitted to the hospital, the diagnosis of Ebola haemorrhagic fever just appear in the district Bundi-budjo in Uganda near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Health officials in Butembo-Beni invite people not to go into the area affected by the disease. The head of the district Bundi-budjo, Mr. Samuel Kazinga said that the epidemic has spread in three districts of Uganda, bordering the DRC: Bundibudjo, Mbarara and Fort Portal. More than 60 people are infected. A team of experts from the laboratory of central control and prevention of diseases in Atlanta in the United States, is expected in Uganda with equipment and medicines, according to the same source.

Congolese side, the Medical Officer of Health District of Butembo, Dr Paul Mundama, said that a meeting bringing together the leaders of health zones of Lubero and Beni will be held in O?cha to 30 km north of Beni. This meeting aims to establish measures of supervision and medical checks at the border.

The DRC closes its borders with Uganda because of the Ebola virus

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has closed its borders with Uganda to prevent a possible spread of the deadly Ebola haemorrhagic fever. Alex Opio, vice president of the working group on Ebola, said Thursday the agency Xinhua by telephone that the DRC has closed its border with the west of Uganda to prevent the disease from entering the country.

However, he gave no details, saying a team of officials was sent to the area to investigate the problem. Thursday, the Ugandan Minister of Health has confirmed the presence of Ebola in the country, which struck in August parts of the district Bunlougyo along the border with the DRC.

Tuesday, Kampala said that the permeation of the border between Uganda to the DRC complicates control of the epidemic. By closing its borders, the DRC joined the Rwanda has also decided to limit the number of Uganda crossing its territory for fear of the disease that has already killed 20 people on 91 cases in the western region of Uganda.

Rwanda has strengthened controls on its borders with Uganda to prevent any spread of the virus. According to experts, the virus which is raging in Uganda is a new strain of Ebola, which is characterized by high fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea but less internal and external bleeding. :tiphat:

http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/48611

 

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Commentary at

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/12090703/Ebola_SARS_Super.html

 

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/2007/12/ebola-bundibugyo-sunday-numbers-no.html

 

[HenryN]

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Re: FluTrackers : Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/2007/12/ebola-bundibugyo-sunday-numbers-no.html

Please pray for our team in Kampala tonight. Three members will leave in the morning, two for normally scheduled ends of their terms, and one for an earlier-than-scheduled month-long trip. The rest of the team remains in the competent and caring hands of Dan and Gini Herron. Tonight there was some panic because of a typical minor illness in one of the kids, the kind that happens on almost every trip to Kampala, different food and water leading to fever and a bit of diarrhea. This is not Ebola. But we realize now that as a team we?ll be living with that added stress, the impending doom feel that every head ache or loose stool could be the beginning of the end. That?s pretty difficult for all of us.