Published Date: 2007-11-30 10:00:13
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (04): (Bundibugyo), Ebola confirmed
Archive Number: 20071130.3859
HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - UGANDA (04): (BUNDIBUGYO), EBOLA CONFIRMED
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[1]
Date: Fri 30 Nov 2007
Source: allAfrica.com [edited[
<http://allafrica.com/stories/200711291106.html>
Uganda: Ebola Strikes Again
------------------------------------
The strange viral disease that struck the western district of
Bundibugyo in August [2007] and has to date killed 16 people has been
confirmed by the Health Ministry to be Ebola haemorrhagic fever, a
deadly disease for which there is no cure.
Announcing the existence of the Ebola [virus] in the country
yesterday, Dr Sam Zaramba, the director general of health services
said; "The Ministry of Health would like to inform the public that
the mysterious disease outbreak in Bundibubyo has now been confirmed
to be Ebola." The confirmatory laboratory tests, initially carried
out at the National Institute of Virology in South Africa and later
at the US-based Centre for Disease Control, comes months after the
disease spread to 14 villages in the affected district.
Dr Zaramba yesterday denied reports that the government had known
about the deadly epidemic outbreak weeks earlier but concealed it in
order not to scare away foreign dignitaries who were scheduled to
attend the just concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in
Kampala. "It would be unethical for me to keep quiet (about an
epidemic outbreak). It is true we knew there was a strange disease in
western Uganda but had not got the conclusive confirmation that it
was Ebola until today (Thursday) [29 Nov 2007] morning," he stressed.
He said the laboratory diagnostic process was so arduous and
protracted that out of 20 (blood) samples sent to foreign capitals,
"only eight tested positive".
Dr William Sikyewunda, the district director of health services for
Bundibugyo said latest reports indicate the disease had killed at
least 27 residents and 51 others were infected, mainly in Bubukwanga
and Kasitu sub-counties. But other unconfirmed reports put the total
death toll to date at 50.
The government yesterday dispatched a team of health officials from
the Ministry of Health headquarters in Kampala to strengthen rapid
response capability in the trouble spots. "The initial supplies and
drugs for case management have been mobilised and isolation
facilities are already operational in Bundibugyo Hospital and Kikyo
Health centre (IV)," the ministry said in the press statement.
The chairman of the National Ebola taskforce, Dr Sam Okware, said the
Ebola strain identified in the western enclave 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 common symptoms of Ebola, that causes death in 70 to 90 percent
of all clinically ill cases; include very high fever, diarrhea,
vomiting associated with red eyes and a measles-like rash. Health
officials issued a countrywide wide Ebola alert and urged the public
to be vigilant and promptly report any suspected cases to the nearest
health facility or call the cell phone hotlines 0772507799,
0772409810.
Daily Monitor has established that a core group of specialized staff
from World Health Organization, Unicef, MSF - France and Afrinet left
for Bundibugyo yesterday to join local medics and bolster case
management of patients, contact tracing and public education. "Ebola
is spread by close contact with body fluids of an infected person or
people who have died of the disease. Anybody handling suspected cases
must use appropriate protective wear," the official warning statement
said.
Medical experts say the incubation period for the Ebola virus is
between two to 21 days, depending on the strain. By last evening,
information emerged that Bundibugyo hospital medical superintendent
only identified as Dr Ssesanga and Dr Joshua Akure, another medic and
employee of International Air Ambulance were down with illnesses
suspected to be Ebola.
Ebola last struck Uganda in the northern district of Gulu in October
2000 and killed 224 people, including Dr Mathew Lukwiya, the then
medical superintendent of Lacor hospital, who first identified and
later relentlessly spearheaded the fight against the disease. It was
believed that Ugandan soldiers who were by then returning from the
Democratic Republic of Congo brought the disease into the country.
The WHO says Ebola has in the past four months killed 160 out of 352
infected persons, especially in the southern province of DRC's Kasai
Occidental, which is about 2, 000 kilometres away from Uganda. The
virulent disease was first identified in the Western Equatorial
province of Sudan and in a nearby region of former Zaire (now
Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1976 and about 1500 cases with over
1000 deaths have been documented ever since.
Just like Marburg fever, the Ebola virus' natural reservoir is still
a puzzle, experts have said, but it seems to reside in African rain
forests and in areas of the Western Pacific, according to the United
Nations health agency but is said to be part of a group of
negative-stranded RNA viruses, known as Filoviridae and mostly not
airborne.
[Byline: Tabu Butagira & Al-Mahdi Ssenkabirwa: Additional reporting
by Jane Nafula]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
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[2]
Date: Fri 30 Nov 2007
Source: Agence France Press report [edited]
<http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gyddRPqYbvM2nbT-YjpceBWqN2jQ>
Ebola confirmed as killer virus in Uganda
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A virus that killed 16 people and infected more than 50 others in
western Uganda has been confirmed as Ebola, the health ministry said
Thursday [29 Nov 2007]. The deadly virus was confirmed in samples
flown to a laboratory in Atlanta in the United States, the ministry
said. "We have been on the ground and we are deploying more people to
manage the situation," said Sam Zaramba, the country's top medical
official.
Zaramba said the first case was reported on November 10 in Bundibugyo
district on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
where three patients were currently in an isolation ward. "It is a
dangerous disease as is any other haemorrhagic fever, but the WHO
(World Health Organisation) and officials from CDC (Centre for
Disease Control) are working with us to remain in control of the
situation," Zaramba explained.
An outbreak of Ebola, a highly contagious disease that can have
fatality rates as high as 90 percent, killed at least 170 people in
northern Uganda in 2000. It spreads by direct human contact,
especially through blood contact. A similar Ebola outbreak killed at
least 26 people in DR Congo's West Kasai region in recent weeks,
according to the country's Health Minister Victor Makwenge Kaput. The
WHO says Ebola has killed at least 1200 people since it was first
discovered in DRC and Sudan in 1976.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[The most striking feature of this report is the statement that: "the
Ebola strain identified in the western enclave is completely
different from the four known sub types of [Ebola/heamorrhagic fever
[virus], namely; Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, Ebola Reston (that only
affects monkeys) and Ebola Tai (Ivory Coast)". Further information is
awaited concerning the origin of the outbreak and any relationship
with mining operations or proximity to bat colonies.
An interpretive map of Uganda is available at
<http://healthmap.org/promed?v=1.3,32.4,6>. - Mod.CP]
[ProMED thanks Naomi Bryant <naomi.bryant@uclh.nhs.uk> for receipt of
a similar report. - Ed.LM]
See Also
Hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (03): (Bundibugyo) 20071121.3775Hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (02): (Bundibugyo), Marburg NOT 20071116.3718
Hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (Bundibugyo): Marburg susp., RFI 20071114.3697
Marburg hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (06): new case 20071002.3257
Marburg hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (05) 20070817.2697
Marburg hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (04), WHO 20070814.2656
Marburg hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (03) 20070810.2609
Marburg hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (02) 20070804.2533
Marburg hemorrhagic fever - Uganda 20070803.2514
Viral hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (Kamwenge): Marburg conf. 20070801.2490
Viral hemorrhagic fever - Uganda (Kamwenge): Marburg susp., RFI 20070801.2475
Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Uganda: postscript 20011019.2576
............................mpp/cp/lm
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