Uganda: Ministry Kills Rats in Western Uganda

[Snowy Owl]

Uganda: Ministry Kills Rats in Western Uganda
New Vision (Kampala)
http://allafrica.com/stories/200703010270.html
Posted to the web March 1, 2007
Alfred Wasike And Steven Candia Kampala​

AN emergency team has started a campaign to kill fleas and rats in a bid to control the outbreak of the infectious pneumonic plague that has hit Masindi district, killing 10 people.

The group is made up officials from the health ministry, the Uganda Virus Research Institute, the Centre for Disease Control (USA), the World Health Organisation, district health officials and the epidemic control task force.

The commissioner of health services, Dr. Sam Okware, said they were destroying the rats that carry the fleas, through spraying.

He revealed that the disease had been confirmed as pneumonic plague after tests in laboratories in Kenya and Egypt.

"We are sensitising the communities that this disease is related to poor hygiene. We are teaching them to keep their environment clean."

Okware pointed out that West Nile and Masindi were the focal areas but added that the possible source of plague was DR Congo. He also stressed that they had enough drugs to deal with the situation.

"In fact we don't expect more than a few hundred cases. We reacted fast enough to the disease," Okware noted.

The Masindi district director of health services, Dr. John Turyagaruka, said no new cases had been reported while those admitted were improving.
However, he complained that there was a shortage of gloves, masks and boots needed for the exercise.
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