Re: Uganda: Hemorrhagic fever outbreak- 48 dead, 190 infected - Yellow Fever
Re: Uganda: Hemorrhagic fever outbreak- 48 dead, 190 infected - Yellow Fever
http://eafr.promedmail.org/
Published Date: 2011-01-31 16:02:15
Subject: PRO/EAFR> Yellow fever - Uganda (02): (northern districts)
Archive Number: 20110131.217833
YELLOW FEVER - UGANDA (02): (NORTHERN DISTRICTS)
*********************************************
In this posting:
[1], [2], [3] Uganda (northern districts): vaccination
[4] East Africa: travel alert
***
[1] Uganda (northern districts): vaccination
Date: Thu 27 Jan 2011
Source: Allvoices [edited]
http://www.allvoices.com/contribute...where-an-outbreak-of-the-disease-has-caused-5
Health officials in Uganda have launched a yellow fever vaccination drive in the north where an outbreak of the disease has caused 53 deaths and 224 infections in 10 districts since late 2010.
Almost a million people are expected to be vaccinated in the campaign, launched by Health Minister Richard Nduhura on [23 Jan 2011].
The outbreak of yellow fever last year [2010] was so mysterious because the disease was first thought to be [ebolavirus infection] and then pneumonic plague, and then later on it was identified by the Ministry of Health as yellow fever.
The disease first hit Abim and Agago districts, but later on spread to Kitgum and other 10 districts in Northern Uganda. Nathan Kenya-Mugisha, the acting Director General of Health Services and experts from the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control positively confirmed the disease.
A total of 174 people have been affected by yellow fever. Of these, 45 people died in 10 districts of Northern Uganda that include Abim, Lamwo, Kitgum, Pader, Gulu, Arua, Kaabong, Nebbi, Agago, and Lira districts.
Yellow fever, which had not been seen in Uganda for about 40 years, has claimed the lives of 48 individuals in the north of the country, sending 187 others to hospital.
Doctors and local leaders in northern Uganda worked tirelessly to find the true cause and prevent the spread of the unknown disease at the time. Radio announcements and other means of sensitization were used by the government of Uganda and the World Health Organization. Residents were advised that anybody who presents suffer high fevers, muscle and back pain, headache, shivering, loss of appetite abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, should report to the nearest health facility for treatment.
Meanwhile, the ministry of health has also disclosed plans to carry out yellow fever vaccination in northern Uganda. The plans for the vaccination came out because of the many deaths and continued spread of infections in the districts of Kitgum, Abim, Agago, Lamwo, Pader, Gulu, Arua, and Kaabong.
All foreign diplomatic services are advising their citizens to avoid traveling to northern Uganda unless vaccinated. And today [27 Jan 2011], as the vaccination is going on, local leaders say they fear there may not be sufficient medicine as people are coming from far and wide.
John Bosco Ogwok, Kitgum district local council chairman, said they were vaccinating people from the neighboring country, Sudan, who were coming for the exercise. Vaccination points, Ogwok said, especially those near the border with Southern Sudan, have registered large numbers of Sudanese, while Ugandans from neighboring districts such as Gulu and Lira have also turned up for vaccination.
Grace Ogwang, a nursing officer in Kitgum district coordinating outpost vaccination points, said that health officials were vaccinating everyone who turned up. "Our ethics in the practice of
medicine is non-discrimination; whether you are from Kitgum or not, we don't discriminate," Ogwang said. "We are vaccinating everybody coming to the vaccination point, so long as you are above 6 months of age."
Kitgum is one of the 5 districts where the 1st phase of vaccination is taking place in northern Uganda. The others are Pader, Lamwo, Agago, and Abim.
Health Minister Nduhura said the remaining districts in the north would begin the programme during a 2nd phase whose start date depended on resolving funding issues.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 200 000 cases of yellow fever occur every year, causing 30 000 deaths. The virus is endemic in 45 tropical countries in Africa and Latin America, with a combined population of more than 900 million.
In Africa, World Health Organization [WHO] estimates 508 million people in 32 countries (including Uganda) are at risk. The number of yellow fever cases has increased over the past 2 decades due to
declining population immunity to infection, deforestation, urbanization, population movements, and climate change.
In the case of Uganda, the genomic sequencing of the virus strain responsible for the current yellow fever outbreak is 98 percent identical to the East African Couma-Ethiopia genotype, according to a WHO brief. This is an indication that the virus has been circulating in the region.
Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan reported yellow fever outbreaks in 1992-1993. A recent outbreak occurred in Sudan in 2003.
[Byline: Omona Emma Claude]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR
***
[2] Uganda (northern districts): vaccination
Date: Thu 27 Jan 2011
Source: All Africa, The New Vision (Uganda) report [edited]
http://allafrica.com/stories/201101280074.html
Vaccination against yellow fever has taken off in Pader and Agago districts, where the disease broke out recently.
Beatrice Akello, a nurse at Lagwayi center in Pader town, told New Vision that over 2000 people, including children and women have been immunized since Saturday [22 Jan 2011] when the exercise commenced.
Akello said the turn-up was high. She said mothers have been rushing to take their children for vaccination.
The mother of a 6-month-old said: "I call upon fellow mothers to take their children to the nearest vaccination centers so that they are immunized against this deadly disease."
In Agago district, 63 cases with symptoms of yellow fever and 16 deaths were reported by [5 Jan 2011]. The latest victim was admitted to Agago health centre on [29 Dec 2010] while the most recent death occurred on [26 Dec 2010].
The Agago resident district commissioner, William Komakec, on Tuesday [25 Jan 2011] urged the community to take their children for immunisation.
He expressed that the vaccine may run out since people from neighbouring districts, which are not mapped in the programme, had started taking their children for the immunisation.
According to Pader district medical officials a total of 200 people have reportedly been diagnosed with yellow fever while 50 people have died from the disease in 10 districts in northern Uganda since the outbreak started. Affected districts are Abim, Agago, Kitgum, Kaabong, Kotido, Arua, Lira, and Pader.
In December 2010, the Ministry of Health confirmed 3 cases of yellow fever, detected through a special investigation following an outbreak in the country in the districts near the border with South Sudan.
The Ministry of Health, with the support of World Health Organisation, conducted a reactive mass vaccination campaign in 5 districts of Abim, Agago, Kitgum, Lamwo, and Pader.
Yellow fever is an acute systemic illness caused by a virus. In severe cases, the viral infection causes a high fever, bleeding through the skin, and death of cells in the kidney and liver.
[Byline: Denis Ojwee]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR
***
[3] Uganda (northern districts): vaccination
Date: Thu 27 Jan 2011
Source: All Africa, The Monitor (Uganda) report [edited]
< http://allafrica.com/stories/201101270025.html>
Mass immunisation against yellow fever in northern Uganda has started. The exercise, which kicked off on Saturday [22 Jan 2011], is intended to cover at least one million people in 5 districts of Abim, Arua, Kitgum, Lamwo, and Pader.
The Assistant Commissioner National Disease Control, Dr Issa Makumbi, yesterday [26 Jan 2011] said immunisation would be complete by [29 Jan 2011]. Northern Uganda has been battling the disease since October last year [2010].
Since the outbreak began, at least 51 people have succumbed to the disease and 200 others are infected. It has taken the government close to 2 months to the secure half the amount of the vaccine required.
The ministry in November [2010] announced a plan to immunise at least 2.5 million people in 26 districts in northern Uganda requiring 2.5 million doses of the vaccine but it only received one million doses.
Early this month [January 2011], Dr Makumbi said the extra doses of the drug may not be required as the disease was not confirmed in the other districts.
The yellow fever vaccine is the only known prevention against yellow fever and provides effective immunity against the disease within one week for 95 per cent of those vaccinated.
A single dose provides protection for 30-35 years or more.Yellow fever last hit Uganda in 1972 but not much was documented and when it hit in October last year [2010], it was only referred to as
'a strange disease' for close to a month as it continued to claim lives.
[Byline: Flavia Lanyero]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR
***
[4] East Africa: travel alert
Date: Fri 21 Jan 2011
Source: AllAfrica, Daily Nation (Kenya) report [edited]
< http://allafrica.com/stories/201101240158.html>
A mandatory yellow fever jab [vaccination] for travellers within East Africa was ordered yesterday [20 Jan 2011] to contain an outbreak of the disease in Uganda. Tanzania's Health minister Dr Hadji Mponda said efforts are being made to establish vaccination centres at all border posts following a meeting of the region's health ministers in Arusha. Dr Mponda told reporters the East African Community [EAC] partner states have agreed to make vaccination against the disease compulsory. Although he said no case of the disease had been reported in Tanzania, he admitted that his ministry could not rule out a possibility of the epidemic crossing into the country. "We have
tightened screening of travellers entering the country and I have not been notified of any case within our borders," he said.
Dr Mponda said that the new measures would reinforce yellow fever checks at major airports, where the on-the-spot jabs would also be administered. Dr Stanley Sonoya, head of the health unit at the EAC secretariat, said the health ministers would consider joint cross-border immunisation campaigns.
According to Ugandan authorities, at least 190 people have been affected by the outbreak with 48 reported killed as at [30 Dec 2010].
Speaking at the meeting, EAC deputy secretary-general Jean Claude Nsengiyumva said yellow fever outbreak was a major concern to the region. Kenya's Public Health minister Beth Mugo said she was not aware if the disease had spread into her country.
[Byline: Zephania Ubwani]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR
[Following the confirmation of a yellow Fever outbreak in Northern Uganda late last year [December 2010], the Uganda ministry of health has conducted reactive vaccination for yellow fever in the 5
districts of Agago, Abim, Kitgum, Lamwo, and Pader, where yellow fever cases have been confirmed. Suspect cases of yellow fever are being investigated in another 9 districts in the region with a total of 26 districts in the region regarded as being at high risk for the disease. These interventions alongside mandatory yellow fever vaccination for international travellers in the region will go a long way in ensuring local containment of the disease and thus preventing
cross-border transmission of the disease.
Re: Uganda: Hemorrhagic fever outbreak- 48 dead, 190 infected - Yellow Fever
http://eafr.promedmail.org/
Published Date: 2011-01-31 16:02:15
Subject: PRO/EAFR> Yellow fever - Uganda (02): (northern districts)
Archive Number: 20110131.217833
YELLOW FEVER - UGANDA (02): (NORTHERN DISTRICTS)
*********************************************
In this posting:
[1], [2], [3] Uganda (northern districts): vaccination
[4] East Africa: travel alert
***
[1] Uganda (northern districts): vaccination
Date: Thu 27 Jan 2011
Source: Allvoices [edited]
http://www.allvoices.com/contribute...where-an-outbreak-of-the-disease-has-caused-5
Health officials in Uganda have launched a yellow fever vaccination drive in the north where an outbreak of the disease has caused 53 deaths and 224 infections in 10 districts since late 2010.
Almost a million people are expected to be vaccinated in the campaign, launched by Health Minister Richard Nduhura on [23 Jan 2011].
The outbreak of yellow fever last year [2010] was so mysterious because the disease was first thought to be [ebolavirus infection] and then pneumonic plague, and then later on it was identified by the Ministry of Health as yellow fever.
The disease first hit Abim and Agago districts, but later on spread to Kitgum and other 10 districts in Northern Uganda. Nathan Kenya-Mugisha, the acting Director General of Health Services and experts from the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control positively confirmed the disease.
A total of 174 people have been affected by yellow fever. Of these, 45 people died in 10 districts of Northern Uganda that include Abim, Lamwo, Kitgum, Pader, Gulu, Arua, Kaabong, Nebbi, Agago, and Lira districts.
Yellow fever, which had not been seen in Uganda for about 40 years, has claimed the lives of 48 individuals in the north of the country, sending 187 others to hospital.
Doctors and local leaders in northern Uganda worked tirelessly to find the true cause and prevent the spread of the unknown disease at the time. Radio announcements and other means of sensitization were used by the government of Uganda and the World Health Organization. Residents were advised that anybody who presents suffer high fevers, muscle and back pain, headache, shivering, loss of appetite abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, should report to the nearest health facility for treatment.
Meanwhile, the ministry of health has also disclosed plans to carry out yellow fever vaccination in northern Uganda. The plans for the vaccination came out because of the many deaths and continued spread of infections in the districts of Kitgum, Abim, Agago, Lamwo, Pader, Gulu, Arua, and Kaabong.
All foreign diplomatic services are advising their citizens to avoid traveling to northern Uganda unless vaccinated. And today [27 Jan 2011], as the vaccination is going on, local leaders say they fear there may not be sufficient medicine as people are coming from far and wide.
John Bosco Ogwok, Kitgum district local council chairman, said they were vaccinating people from the neighboring country, Sudan, who were coming for the exercise. Vaccination points, Ogwok said, especially those near the border with Southern Sudan, have registered large numbers of Sudanese, while Ugandans from neighboring districts such as Gulu and Lira have also turned up for vaccination.
Grace Ogwang, a nursing officer in Kitgum district coordinating outpost vaccination points, said that health officials were vaccinating everyone who turned up. "Our ethics in the practice of
medicine is non-discrimination; whether you are from Kitgum or not, we don't discriminate," Ogwang said. "We are vaccinating everybody coming to the vaccination point, so long as you are above 6 months of age."
Kitgum is one of the 5 districts where the 1st phase of vaccination is taking place in northern Uganda. The others are Pader, Lamwo, Agago, and Abim.
Health Minister Nduhura said the remaining districts in the north would begin the programme during a 2nd phase whose start date depended on resolving funding issues.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 200 000 cases of yellow fever occur every year, causing 30 000 deaths. The virus is endemic in 45 tropical countries in Africa and Latin America, with a combined population of more than 900 million.
In Africa, World Health Organization [WHO] estimates 508 million people in 32 countries (including Uganda) are at risk. The number of yellow fever cases has increased over the past 2 decades due to
declining population immunity to infection, deforestation, urbanization, population movements, and climate change.
In the case of Uganda, the genomic sequencing of the virus strain responsible for the current yellow fever outbreak is 98 percent identical to the East African Couma-Ethiopia genotype, according to a WHO brief. This is an indication that the virus has been circulating in the region.
Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan reported yellow fever outbreaks in 1992-1993. A recent outbreak occurred in Sudan in 2003.
[Byline: Omona Emma Claude]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR
***
[2] Uganda (northern districts): vaccination
Date: Thu 27 Jan 2011
Source: All Africa, The New Vision (Uganda) report [edited]
http://allafrica.com/stories/201101280074.html
Vaccination against yellow fever has taken off in Pader and Agago districts, where the disease broke out recently.
Beatrice Akello, a nurse at Lagwayi center in Pader town, told New Vision that over 2000 people, including children and women have been immunized since Saturday [22 Jan 2011] when the exercise commenced.
Akello said the turn-up was high. She said mothers have been rushing to take their children for vaccination.
The mother of a 6-month-old said: "I call upon fellow mothers to take their children to the nearest vaccination centers so that they are immunized against this deadly disease."
In Agago district, 63 cases with symptoms of yellow fever and 16 deaths were reported by [5 Jan 2011]. The latest victim was admitted to Agago health centre on [29 Dec 2010] while the most recent death occurred on [26 Dec 2010].
The Agago resident district commissioner, William Komakec, on Tuesday [25 Jan 2011] urged the community to take their children for immunisation.
He expressed that the vaccine may run out since people from neighbouring districts, which are not mapped in the programme, had started taking their children for the immunisation.
According to Pader district medical officials a total of 200 people have reportedly been diagnosed with yellow fever while 50 people have died from the disease in 10 districts in northern Uganda since the outbreak started. Affected districts are Abim, Agago, Kitgum, Kaabong, Kotido, Arua, Lira, and Pader.
In December 2010, the Ministry of Health confirmed 3 cases of yellow fever, detected through a special investigation following an outbreak in the country in the districts near the border with South Sudan.
The Ministry of Health, with the support of World Health Organisation, conducted a reactive mass vaccination campaign in 5 districts of Abim, Agago, Kitgum, Lamwo, and Pader.
Yellow fever is an acute systemic illness caused by a virus. In severe cases, the viral infection causes a high fever, bleeding through the skin, and death of cells in the kidney and liver.
[Byline: Denis Ojwee]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR
***
[3] Uganda (northern districts): vaccination
Date: Thu 27 Jan 2011
Source: All Africa, The Monitor (Uganda) report [edited]
< http://allafrica.com/stories/201101270025.html>
Mass immunisation against yellow fever in northern Uganda has started. The exercise, which kicked off on Saturday [22 Jan 2011], is intended to cover at least one million people in 5 districts of Abim, Arua, Kitgum, Lamwo, and Pader.
The Assistant Commissioner National Disease Control, Dr Issa Makumbi, yesterday [26 Jan 2011] said immunisation would be complete by [29 Jan 2011]. Northern Uganda has been battling the disease since October last year [2010].
Since the outbreak began, at least 51 people have succumbed to the disease and 200 others are infected. It has taken the government close to 2 months to the secure half the amount of the vaccine required.
The ministry in November [2010] announced a plan to immunise at least 2.5 million people in 26 districts in northern Uganda requiring 2.5 million doses of the vaccine but it only received one million doses.
Early this month [January 2011], Dr Makumbi said the extra doses of the drug may not be required as the disease was not confirmed in the other districts.
The yellow fever vaccine is the only known prevention against yellow fever and provides effective immunity against the disease within one week for 95 per cent of those vaccinated.
A single dose provides protection for 30-35 years or more.Yellow fever last hit Uganda in 1972 but not much was documented and when it hit in October last year [2010], it was only referred to as
'a strange disease' for close to a month as it continued to claim lives.
[Byline: Flavia Lanyero]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR
***
[4] East Africa: travel alert
Date: Fri 21 Jan 2011
Source: AllAfrica, Daily Nation (Kenya) report [edited]
< http://allafrica.com/stories/201101240158.html>
A mandatory yellow fever jab [vaccination] for travellers within East Africa was ordered yesterday [20 Jan 2011] to contain an outbreak of the disease in Uganda. Tanzania's Health minister Dr Hadji Mponda said efforts are being made to establish vaccination centres at all border posts following a meeting of the region's health ministers in Arusha. Dr Mponda told reporters the East African Community [EAC] partner states have agreed to make vaccination against the disease compulsory. Although he said no case of the disease had been reported in Tanzania, he admitted that his ministry could not rule out a possibility of the epidemic crossing into the country. "We have
tightened screening of travellers entering the country and I have not been notified of any case within our borders," he said.
Dr Mponda said that the new measures would reinforce yellow fever checks at major airports, where the on-the-spot jabs would also be administered. Dr Stanley Sonoya, head of the health unit at the EAC secretariat, said the health ministers would consider joint cross-border immunisation campaigns.
According to Ugandan authorities, at least 190 people have been affected by the outbreak with 48 reported killed as at [30 Dec 2010].
Speaking at the meeting, EAC deputy secretary-general Jean Claude Nsengiyumva said yellow fever outbreak was a major concern to the region. Kenya's Public Health minister Beth Mugo said she was not aware if the disease had spread into her country.
[Byline: Zephania Ubwani]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR
[Following the confirmation of a yellow Fever outbreak in Northern Uganda late last year [December 2010], the Uganda ministry of health has conducted reactive vaccination for yellow fever in the 5
districts of Agago, Abim, Kitgum, Lamwo, and Pader, where yellow fever cases have been confirmed. Suspect cases of yellow fever are being investigated in another 9 districts in the region with a total of 26 districts in the region regarded as being at high risk for the disease. These interventions alongside mandatory yellow fever vaccination for international travellers in the region will go a long way in ensuring local containment of the disease and thus preventing
cross-border transmission of the disease.
