Hepatitis E kills 67, infects 4,000, in north Uganda

[Shiloh]

Source: http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN756912.html

Hepatitis kills 67, infects 4,000, in north Uganda
Mon 7 Jul 2008, 14:48 GMT

KAMPALA (Reuters) - An outbreak of highly infectious hepatitis E has killed 67 people in northern Uganda since late last year and made more than 4,000 others ill, a government official said on Monday.

State Minister for Health Emmanuel Otala said the disease had hit the Kitgum, Pader and Gulu districts, where most residents still live in congested camps following a two-decade civil war.

"We have 4,127 people who are hospitalised with hepatitis E and we have registered 67 deaths since the disease hit the region late last year," Otala told Reuters.

"Over 80 per cent of the people who have died are pregnant women and children, because they have has very low immunity."

Hepatitis E is similar to hepatitis A, and is usually transmitted via contaminated food. Northern Uganda suffers from an acute lack of clean water and pit latrines.

(Reporting by Frank Nyakairu; Editing by Catherine Evans)

? Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved.

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Hepatitis E kills 67, infects 4,000, in north Uganda

Ugandan Hepatitis E Outbreak Kills 72 People, Ministry Says
By Fred Ojambo
July 17 (Bloomberg) -- An outbreak of Hepatitis E in Uganda, which killed 72 of the 4,829 people infected, has spread to three more districts in the north of the country since it was first detected in November, the Health Ministry said.
At least 45 cases of the disease have been reported in Gulu, Pader and Yumbe in northern Uganda, the Kampala-based ministry said in an e-mailed statement today. The three areas all border on the district of Kitgum, where the disease was first detected last year.
``The outbreak of Hepatitis E in Kitgum district continues to escalate,'' it said.
The virus, common in neighboring Southern Sudan, causes jaundice and fever. Authorities are trying to contain the spread of the disease by urging people to use boiled water and promoting the use of chlorine tablets to kill germs.

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