gregg
Jan 23 2008, 09:03 PM
ONE person has died and three more are fighting for their lives in intensive care after contracting melioidosis in the Top End. A further seven people have been diagnosed with the tropical killer disease this wet season _ but have since been treated. One case involved a visitor who developed the disease after returning to their home interstate. No children have been affected. The NT Department of Health and Community Services (DHCS) would not give the circumstances surrounding the death from the disease. All the department would say is that there had been cases "all over the Territory", including Darwin and Katherine and in remote areas. And DHCS Centre for Disease Control director Vicki Krause yesterday warned more people could fall victim to the disease before April. "This is a serious disease - every year we have people dying from melioidosis," she said. "We just want people to be reasonable and know they live in an environment where this bacteria is in the soil, particularly after rains."
Melioidosis is caused by the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei. It killed five people in the Territory during the last Wet, and more than 30 cases were reported. Dr Krause said the bacteria lives below the soil's surface during the dry season but after heavy rainfall can be found in surface water and mud. She said it can also become airborne - and people are more at risk after cyclonic weather. There was widespread flooding in Darwin last week after the NT capital recorded its fifth highest ever rainfall since records were kept. It came a week after Cyclone Helen.
Melioidosis can enter the body through small cuts in the skin. It can also be contracted through inhalation of dust, droplets or swallowing contaminated water. People with diabetes, alcoholism and kidney or lung disease are at more risk. Symptoms include skin ulcers or sores, fevers, weight loss, fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, and, occasionally, neurological problems, such as headache and confusion. The incubation period for acute disease can range from one to 21 days. Dr Krause urged people to wear protective clothing if working in the garden or in muddy or wet areas. Anyone who has symptoms should visit their GP.)
That's one.
The spread of an unknown disease has been reported in Nawayath village in Uppani of Honnavar taluka which left three children dead and many others hospitalized. According to the sources, the disease is being spread in the area from past four days. The initial symptoms of the disease include fever, diarrhoea and vomiting, which gradually leads to death after two to three days of infection. The deceased have been identified as Sajida Afreen Ibrahim (11), Khalid Basheer Ahmed (7), Zaheer Ahmed Faquih(14), the students of class V, III and IX respectively. Others who have been affected include six people who have been admitted to different hospitals. Aqueel Khaja(16),a class X student is admitted in Shridevi Hospital Honnavar, Parveen Ahmed Mukhtasar (14),class IX student, admitted in Sharada Nursing Home Karki, while two others have been taken to Mangalore hospital, whose names are unknown.
The deceased Sajida's mother, Akhtar Banu Ibrahim (40) and her brother is also infected with the disease and are admitted in Shridevi Hospital, Honnavar. The spread of this disease have greatly threatened the public of the area. The doctors are not yet successful in identifying the cause of the disease. After receiving the information, the Health Officer from Karwar and other specialized doctors from Mangalore and Bangalore have been ordered to come to Honnavar for help. Today, the concerned matter was under discussion in the meeting which was held here in Majlis Islah-O-Tanzeem, a social organization in Bhatkal, and it has been approved to send a team of helpers to the affected area. )
That's two.
The rumours of anthrax cases in Karvetinagaram have created panic among villagers. Seven persons, who consumed meat of sheep died due to illness, were hospitalised recently. Joint Director of Animal Husbandry G Somasekharam said seven sheep died due to unknown illness. Responding to complaints of a few villagers, who fell ill after consuming the meat of dead sheep, the Animal Husbandry Department sent tissues of animals to lab for analysis. “We will take necessary action after getting the analysis report,” he said.)
That's three.
Health authorities on Wednesday reported the first known cases of virtually untreatable tuberculosis in Botswana, following fears that the highly contagious strain has spread beyond South Africa. The health ministry said there were two cases of so-called extremely drug resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, as well as 100 cases of the slightly more manageable multi-drug resistant TB, or MDR-TB. Although XDR-TB has been reported in other parts of the world, especially former Soviet republics, it is particularly lethal in southern Africa, where AIDS incidence is high, because it combines with AIDS to kill. For the past few months, health professionals have warned that XDR-TB, although only confirmed in South Africa, had spread to other southern African nations like Swaziland and Lesotho hard hit by the AIDS epidemic, but hadn't been diagnosed because of lack of laboratory facilities. Batatu Tafa, permanent secretary at Botswana's Ministry of Health, urged health workers who develop chronic coughs or other symptoms while managing TB patients, to have check ups. She also appealed to people with HIV to be screened for TB. )
That's four.
And I would not like to do this but:
Situation Update No. 36 On 14.01.2008 at 11:00 GMT+2 Open Close
Repoer by MSF: No new cases of ebola hemorrhagic fever have been reported since December 23 in Bundibugyo district, in western Uganda. MSF teams, who have been providing care to ebola patients in the area since early December, have good reason to hope that this short, but acute, epidemic is coming to its end. Latest figures show that 148 persons have caught the disease since the first cases were reported in early August. Of these, 37 have died over a period of a few weeks. Authorities officially declared the epidemic on November 28. Ebola, as well as Marburg fever, are very contagious hemorrhagic fevers with no specific treatment. There are thought to be transmitted through the ingestion of bush meat - monkey meat, in the case of Ebola. These monkeys may have been infected themselves by a healthy carrier, probably a bat. The MSF intervention, first focused on the isolation of the patients, as well as active research of sick people who had been in touch with confirmed cases, has been very efficient. Less than a month after the start of the intervention, it seems that the chains of transmission of the ebola virus have been broken. On January 8, one of the two isolation units set up by the organization in Kykio is being and decontaminated and dismantled. Kikyo is a few kilometres away from Bundibugyo, the district main town, where the epidemic seems to have started.
Currently, only one patient remains under observation in the other isolation unit, set up in Bundibugyo's hospital. There is a strong possibility that this patient was not infected by ebola. The MSF teams, composed of around 20 expatriates and 60 local staff, will progressively reduce their activities while continuing to transfer their know-how to national healthcare staff in order to increase the local capacity of diagnosing the disease and a quicker response and care to patients. According to international recommendations, the end of the epidemic can only be declared after 42 days, a period time equal to twice the incubation period of the disease with no new cases declaring themselves from the day the last case had been isolated. However, after the first period of 21 days, the area may be considered as "ebola free". This date, currently set to January 12, is much awaited by the local population of this mountainous region at the edge of the Ugandan Rwenzori region. Understandably, ebola is an extremely feared disease there. It might also be one of the factors that limited the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, MSF staff is carrying on with their activities: counselling to the victims' families; training of medical staff; and epidemiological research in order to verify that the virus' transmission chains have indeed been broken.
Situation Update No. 35 On 28.12.2007 at 09:42 GMT+2 Open Close
Bundibugyo Hospital has registered a new case of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever just after discharging the last seven patients. The confirmation that the woman (identity has been concealed) had Ebola sent the medical staff and other patients she had interacted with in panic. She had been admitted to the hospital for five days. The patient spent two days in the general ward being treated for malaria before she developed signs of Ebola. She was taken to the isolation ward and the blood samples showed that she had the Ebola virus. In Kabarole, the two patients, who were put in an isolation ward at Buhinga Hospital, tested negative for the Ebola virus. According to results from the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe, the two do not have the virus although they participated in the burial of Ebola suspects. However, another patient was taken to the isolation ward. The Ministry of Health yesterday noted that a cumulative figure of 55 Ebola patients had been discharged from hospital. It added that 279 contacts of the victims are out of danger. The incubation period for Ebola is up to 21 days after exposure to the virus that causes the disease. According to the ministry, the disease is getting contained. It, however, warned people to stay vigilant. It cautioned that the public, especially in the districts surrounding Bundibugyo, should avoid unnecessary movements and gatherings.
Situation Update No. 34 On 27.12.2007 at 04:57 GMT+2 Open Close
The Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo has affected the well-being of the Batwa (pygmies), cutting their food supply. The pygmies, numbering 75, said the epidemic had kept away tourists, from whom they got food and money. In a report sent to the district Ebola taskforce chairman, Jackson Bambalira, the pygmies said their queen had deserted the king, accusing him of failing to provide for her. Dr. Scott of the World Harvest Mission, who read the report last week, requested the district to help the pygmies. However, a member of the Ebola taskforce, Samuel Kazinga, said the pygmies - request should be re-directed to donors. "I am appealing to well-wishers like the World Food Programme to come to the rescue of these pygmies." Kazinga also revealed that the UN food agency had donated 35 tonnes of maize floor, cooking oil, sugar, peas and soap, to families that had lost breadwinners to Ebola. He said out of the 132 infected people, 34 had died by the end of last week. He added that only three new cases had been reported since December 16. Meanwhile, the director general of health services, Dr. Sam Zaramba, last week said the epidemic had been contained. He said only six people were still admitted at Bundibugyo Hospital and Kikyo Health Centre IV. The Bundibugyo chief administrative officer, Elias Byamungu, said the Government last week released sh450m to combat the disease. He added that they had been spending sh40m per week on social mobilisation. Related reports say the Democratic Republic of Congo has closed its border with Uganda. The Congolese are let to enter freely into Uganda but are restricted when re-entering Congo. They are confined in isolation tents for check-up, before being let to move further into Congo.
Situation Update No. 33 On 20.12.2007 at 04:53 GMT+2 Open Close
Uganda health authorities confirmed the outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever registered two weeks ago is under control, although alert remains facing a possible resurgence of the malady in the neighboring Democratic Congo. In general, the figure of new cases of the disease has gone down, expressed Uganda health minister Emmanuel Otaala in declarations, which means that the outbreak in Bundibugyo district is under control. Authorities reported of 127 suspicious cases, 35 deaths, three of them health workers, while 39 patients were completely recovered and discharged, he said. Otaala reported that the analysis of suspicious cases reported outside Bundibugyo were negative and called residents of the area to go to medical centers to receive treatment because this type of diseases know no limit. Some officials called the population in the areas possibly affected to avoid practicing traditional ritual like circumcision. Investigations continue regarding the causes of the outbreak of this contagious disease, whose lethal levels could exceed 90 percent.
Situation Update No. 32 On 18.12.2007 at 04:35 GMT+2 Open Close
Six more people were admitted to Bundibugyo Hospital and Kikyo health centre with suspected Ebola haemorrhagic fever. Doctors said the patients, three of them children aged 6 to 12 were admitted to Bundibugyo Hospital, while two were admitted at Kikyo health centre. The admissions push the number of suspected Ebola admissions to 125 from 119 last week, but according to the health ministry, no new deaths have occurred. Eight patients are in Kikyo, up from six and seven in Bundibugyo , increasing from threereported last week. The authorities in Bundibugyo, however, said the new cases were not confirmed patients and it could be something else. They vomited, had fever and diarrhoea but were said not to be very sick. The health ministry said the fifth and sixth lot of blood samples taken earlier from alert cases were found negative at the Virus Research Institute.
Situation Update No. 31 On 14.12.2007 at 12:28 GMT+2 Open Close
Uganda has had 119 cases of a new strain of Ebola fever that has killed 35 people, the east African country's Health Ministry said on Friday. All the cases since the outbreak began in August have been in remote western Bundibugyo district, which borders Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), except for a doctor who died in the capital Kampala after returning from that area. "The Ministry of Health continues to urge the public to avoid unnecessary movements and gatherings especially in the districts around Bundibugyo," the ministry said in a statement. It urged all local health officers to remain on alert and called on the public to bring to their attention anyone suffering symptoms including very high fever, diarrhoea or vomiting associated with red eyes and a measles-like rash.
Situation Update No. 30 On 14.12.2007 at 04:57 GMT+2 Open Close
An Ebola epidemic in western Uganda has claimed four more lives, health officials said Thursday, bringing to 34 the number of deaths since the virulent virus first appeared in September. Bundibugyo deputy district commissioner Patrick Kawamala told AFP that two patients died on Thursday and two more the previous day. A total of 116 people are known to have been infected but many more are under observation after coming in close contact with Ebola patients. However health ministry spokesman Paul Kaggwa said that no new hospital admissions had been recorded since Tuesday, suggesting that the deadly virus may soon be contained.
Situation Update No. 29 On 13.12.2007 at 04:33 GMT+2 Open Close
With the latest reports suggesting that as many as 25 people have now fallen victim to the deadly virus, the new and mysterious strain of Ebola has infected some of the medical workers who treated patients without the aid of latex gloves and respirator gowns. According to the Minister of State for primary health-care Dr. Emmanuel Otaala, eleven health workers treating Ebola patients have contracted the disease and four of them have died. Among those was Dr. Jonah Kule who died on December 4 at Mulago Hospital from the hemorrhagic fever. Dr. Kule who grew up in Bundibugyo, returned to the area after completing medical school in the capital city of Kampala. Dr. Kule was one of the first to investigate the Ebola outbreak when it first appeared in October when rumours of a mysterious illness with fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea and inexplicably rapid death initially surfaced. Ebola appears to be ravaging parts of Uganda with another 104 people suspected of carrying the virus and hundreds more under close scrutiny. Health authorities say although the situation remains serious it has started to improve in hospitals where the government has deployed additional personnel and protective equipment.
According to Sam Kazinga, the area's district commissioner, four people have recovered and are about to be discharged from Bundibugyo hospital and two others are about to be discharged from Kikyo health centre. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has urged the public to refrain from handshakes and kissing and the message is also being delivered by local radio stations and via public information campaigns. Authorities fear the deadly virus will spread beyond the western Bundibugyo district which borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The World Health Organization and Ugandan officials are currently trying to track 327 people believed to have been in contact with the victims in order to assess their status. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Ebola hemorrhagic fever is lethal in humans, monkeys and other nonhuman primates. Experts from the CDC are studying new blood and tissue samples from western Kanungu and Kasese districts and northwestern Adjuman district for possible Ebola infections. The disease appeared for the first time 1976 and experts believe the virus is transmitted to humans by exposure to infected animals.
Situation Update No. 28 On 10.12.2007 at 04:05 GMT+2 Open Close
Three Ebola patients died in western Uganda on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 28, an official said, as the virus continued to ravage the impoverished region. The three, including a health worker, died in Bundibugyo district, home to 250,000 people and the outbreak's epicentre, where health workers are struggling to contain the disease. "Since the epidemic broke out, the cumulative cases have risen to 112, including 28 deaths. Three patients died today," Sam Kazinga, Bundibugyo district commissioner. Hundreds of villagers and medics who had physical contacts with the patients have been put under observation, authorities said. Because no one can explain how the disease entered Bundibugyo -- seven years after it killed at least 170 people in northern Uganda -- it is now the job of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to scour the district for clues. Virologists are convinced that the disease erupted in September, wending its way through the district unnoticed, even though the first cases arrived in ill-equipped hospitals around the same time. Spread by body fluids, the blood-borne disease was named after a small DR Congo river where it was discovered in 1976. It re-emerged in Sudan later the same year. Other outbreaks have been recorded in Ivory Coast, Gabon and Uganda.
Situation Update No. 27 On 09.12.2007 at 05:05 GMT+2 Open Close
It is being reported that the outbreak of Ebola that is currently ravaging the country of Uganda has claimed more lives, pushing the total of fatalities to 25. Along with the people who have died, health officials continue to monitor hundreds of people for any signs that any of them are also contaminated with the virus. "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. The virus has been confirmed in 104 people so far, and a doctor is reported to be one of the victims who died. Many medical staff are treating the sick without protective gowns, gloves or masks. In 9 cases that were analyzed it was found that the people contracted a previously unknown strain of the virus, which is characterized by both internal and external bleeding. The virus is very contagious, and is spread from person to person via bodily fluids, such as blood and secretions. Uganda was last hit by an epidemic of Ebola in 2000, when 425 people were infected and just over half died.
Situation Update No. 26 On 08.12.2007 at 19:13 GMT+2 Open Close
Uganda confirmed 101 suspected cases of Ebola fever and hundreds more people being closely monitored, officials said on Friday, with growing fears the lethal virus may spread to neighboring countries. Ugandan state Minister for Primary Healthcare, Dr Emmanuel Otaala said 22 people have died from the fever and 11 health care workers have contracted the virus. "Cumulatively, we have 101 cases". A total of 338 people are being taken care of as they have come into contact with infected patients. Otaala said eight sporadic alert cases have 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; implying the whole country is now under Ebola siege The last Ebola outbreak in Uganda was in 2000, when 425 people caught it and more than half died. The first Ebola case was reported on November 10 in the Bundibugyo district on the border with DR Congo. No cure has yet been found for Ebola, which originated in the rainforests of the Congo basin. The Ebola haemorrhagic fever which is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons or animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys and antelopes. The disease has an incubation period of two to 21 days.
Situation Update No. 25 On 07.12.2007 at 10:07 GMT+2 Open Close
Multiple outbreaks - excluding Ebola - have killed at least 33 people in Uganda in the past three weeks, straining the country's health facilities, an official said Thursday. The extremely contagious cholera, plague, meningitis and hepatitis outbreaks are wending through the country's western and northwestern regions, leaving hundreds of infections, health ministry spokesman Paul Kaggwa told AFP. Cholera has killed 12 of the 569 cases in western Hoima and northwestern Nebbi district. Plague has killed 19 of the 139 cases in Nebbi and northwestern Arua district. Hepatitis has killed two of the 32 cases in northern Kitgum district while no one has died of the 255 meningitis cases in Arus district, Kaggwa added. The new fatalities were announced as health teams were battling another stubborn microbe: Ebola, a blood-borne disease with up to 90 percent fatality and whose mutation has stunned scientists. Ebola that broke out in September in western Bundibugyo district has killed 22 of the 93 infected people as the microbe meanders through the region, where sterile techniques are rare, thus making hospitals unsafe. The new outbreak was spurred by an unknown type of Ebola that kills its victims without the disease's trademark haemorrhage from all body orifices.
Situation Update No. 24 On 07.12.2007 at 04:59 GMT+2 Open Close
About 350 people who have had contact with Ebola victims have been confined to their homes for monitoring in Bundibugyo and Kasese districts. About 253,000 people in the five sub-counties of Bundibugyo district are at risk of contracting the deadly haemorrhagic fever, the World Health Organisation and the Ministry of Health said yesterday. They added that Bundibugyo town council was the most affected. "We have established that 335 such people participated in burying some of the cases, either as relatives or sympathisers," the Bundibugyo district chairman, Jackson Bambalira, said. The National Task Force put the figure of the people being followed at 327. "I am greatly worried that a bigger Ebola bomb could explode, claiming many more lives," Bambalira said. He added that another 20 people in Kasese had also been confined at home. The suspects were tracked down by local and international experts this week. Since August when the killer disease broke out, ninety-three were confirmed infected, 24 of whom have died among them Dr Jonah Kule, and four health workers. Kasese, Mbarara and Kabarole districts have been put on high alert. Blood specimens are being collected for testing at the newly-established Ebola lab, which begins to work this weekend. Results will now be out within 24 hours unlike in the past when the samples would be taken to the US.
Community leaders in Bundibugyo and Kasese have also been registering suspected cases and deaths. LCs have been ordered to restrict movement into homesteads where cases are suspected. UPDF doctors have also joined the local and international experts in Bundibugyo to combat Ebola, including sensitising the population. Dr. Kule and the other health workers who died of Ebola were buried yesterday at Bundibugyo Hospital. Dr. Richard Kaddu Ssessanga, the medical superintendent, who until the time of the burial had not learnt of his colleague?s death, forced himself out of bed to attend the burial. "He looked really hard-hit by Dr. Kule?s death," an official said. Ssessanga barred his relatives who had travelled from Kampala from entering the room where he is confined. Meanwhile, in Gulu, a memorial service was held on Wednesday for the victims who died of Ebola in Gulu in the 2000 outbreak, the first ever in Uganda. Dr. Matthew Lukwiya, the head of Lacor Hospital, was one the victims. In neighbouring Kabarole district, residents of Kichwamba have threatened to flee if an isolation centre for Ebola cases is set up in their village. "People fear to risk their lives and those of their children and are relocating," resident Evanice Manyireho said.
"We are worried. Some of our elderly people and drunkards may stray into the isolation centres and get infected. We ask the Government to identify another place far away from human settlement," Manyireho pleaded. The concerns were raised during a meeting called by the district disaster preparedness committee at Bukuku sub-county hall. Kichwamba Health Centre III has been made an isolation centre after two unconfirmed cases were admitted in Buhinga and Virika hospitals in Fort-Portal. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has provided gloves, gowns, gumboots and jik for use at the centre. The Ministry of Health advised people with other ailments to seek help at the Bukuku health centre and Buhinga Hospital. Meanwhile, Kabale authorities have set up a task force as a precautionary measure to handle any cases. The head of health services, Dr. Patrick Tumusime, was afraid that the disease could be carried to the district by unsuspecting infected people. He advised that suspicious illnesses be immediately reported.
Situation Update No. 23 On 07.12.2007 at 04:45 GMT+2 Open Close
A medical doctor and 4 health workers, who treated the 1st Ebola patients in Bundibugyo, have died of the disease. Dr. Jonah Kule, the medical superintendent of Kikyo Health Centre, succumbed on Tuesday night [4 Dec 2007]. He had been quarantined at Mulago Hospital. Senior clinical officer Joshua Kule, senior nursing officer Rose Bulimpikya, matron Peluce Tabiita and another nurse not yet identified died yesterday [5 Dec 2007] in Bundibugyo Hospital, according to senior clinical officer James Agaba. In a statement yesterday [Wed 5 Dec 2007], the health ministry said the number of Ebola cases had shot up to 91, after 7 new cases had been recorded. The death toll has risen to 24. This includes a Bundibugyo businessman who died on Tuesday [4 Dec 2007]. Eight of the Ebola cases are health workers.
Contrary to guidelines by the health ministry to immediately bury the victims, Kule's remains will be taken to his home in Bundibugyo today [6 Dec 2007] and buried there. The Director of Mulago Hospital, Dr. Edward Ddumba, said precautionary measures had been taken and there was no risk of infection from the body. Bundibugyo chief administrative officer, Elias Byamungu, said Kule could have been infected when he went to investigate deaths which locals had attributed to witchcraft. The Bakonjo had accused the Bamba of bewitching them. "I warned Dr. Kule, but he insisted, saying: 'Let come what may. I must go down and investigate what is killing the people.' He investigated, and he wrote a report. That report is helping the authorities," said Byamungu. Kule becomes the 2nd medical doctor to die from Ebola in Uganda through contact with patients. The 1st, Dr. Matthew Lukwiya, died in Lacor Hospital in 2000 during the 1st ever outbreak of the disease in Uganda. In Kasese, a teacher who works in Bundibugyo, has been admitted at Bwera Hospital in Kasese with suspected Ebola. "We have not yet confirmed if it is Ebola, but he complains of headache, joint pain, fever, chest pain and bleeding from the nostrils. We have isolated him," the hospital's medical superintendent, Dr. Yusuf Baseke, said. He appealed for protective gear for the hospital staff to be able to handle Ebola cases.
Meanwhile, health ministry sources said yesterday [5 Dec 2007] experts from the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Ministry of Health were assembling the Ebola-testing machine at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe. Eight pathogen experts from the CDC also arrived in the country on Tuesday [4 Dec 20007]. The equipment was brought this week and is expected to be operational by the beginning of next week. The machine will make testing for Ebola and other haemorrhagic viruses faster and intervention quicker. Currently, samples have to be sent to laboratories in South Africa and the US, causing delays. The Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo was only confirmed on 29 Nov 2007 after initial tests turned out to be negative, according to the health
minister, Dr. Stephen Mallinga. The Bundibugyo Ebola strain is said to be different from any other known strain [see comment below]. It is characterised by high fever, abdominal pain and diarrhoea and not so much internal and external bleeding. The authorities at Buhinga Regional Hospital in Kabarole district said some patients had fled, fearing to contract Ebola. One of the patients who fled was a woman who had been put in isolation at the hospital after she vomited blood. She was classified as an alert case, though the results of her test had not yet come back. Radio stations in Fort Portal ran announcements for anybody who spots the woman to alert the authorities.
The Fort Portal Catholic Diocese, where a 13-year-old boy died from suspected Ebola on Sunday [2 Dec 2007], has warned people to stop self-medication. The health coordinator, Sr. Euphrasia Masika, advised people to seek help from the nearest health units as soon as they suspect they may have contracted the disease. She warned that concealing the disease minimised their chances of getting cured. Residents of Mbarara town have stopped their traditional culture of greeting with a hug and a handshake, fearing to contract Ebola. They have resorted to waving at each other. This followed the death of a woman who was vomiting blood at Mbarara University Hospital. The woman was from areas near the hospital. The Ministry of Health took samples of her blood for testing and buried her body immediately as a precautionary measure. The management of all the banks in the town have instructed their staff to wear protective gloves before handling money from clients. At Stanbic Bank, manager Enid Natukunda said it was the bank's obligation to protect its staff. "They are all supplied with gloves. We cannot take chances," Natukunda said. Make-shift eating places have been hit hardest by the scare as patrons abandoned them, fearing contact with other people. Two Ebola taskforces have been set up at Mbarara Hospital.
Situation Update No. 22 On 06.12.2007 at 10:10 GMT+2 Open Close
Health workers are among the dead in an Ebola outbreak in Uganda, spreading panic among those needed to help. Doctors and nurses did not at first know what they were facing, so failed to protect themselves, according to a lawmaker representing the western area at the center of the outbreak. Experts say the Ebola subtype that sparked the outbreak is new and the classic Ebola symptoms were not always present, slowing diagnosis. "We are facing a crisis in health care here," said Jane Alisemera, the lawmaker representing Bundibugyo, the district 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Kampala where the outbreak has claimed at least 18 lives. Health workers "are scared and morale is low." "There is a very big shortage of nursing staff now at the hospital," she said. According to the Ministry of Health's latest figures, Bundibugyo has 93 suspected cases of Ebola, among them 22 deaths. Four health workers were among the dead in an outbreak that began on Aug. 20 but the disease was not confirmed as Ebola until Nov. 29.
"The staff at the hospital didn't know they were dealing with a highly contagious outbreak so they took inadequate precautions," Alisemera said. The hospital had not protective clothing at the time of the outbreak, she said, though aid agencies have since donated supplies. Two teams including infection control doctors from the World Health Organization and the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recently arrived in Uganda to help local officials contain the outbreak. In previous Ebola outbreaks, the virus has often spread in health care centers where doctors and nurses are not properly protected. WHO and CDC experts recommend that when caring for Ebola patients, doctors and nurses wear gowns, gloves, goggles, masks and boots. Local press reported that nursing staff in the isolation unit at Bundibugyo hospital were working without gloves and masks, and that the door of the ward was not locked. Some health workers have threatened to strike unless they are paid extra for the risk they are taking, Alisemera said. "The staff are moving in a state of fear," said Samuel Kazinga, a local government official and head of the district Ebola task force.
"They have lost many of their colleagues and have put themselves at great risk in the line of duty. It is only fair that they should get some extra money, unfortunately we did not have the funds available immediately." He said that negotiations with hospital staff had resolved their complaints and that medical personnel were attending patients. Doctors would be paid a daily risk allowance of 40,000 Uganda shillings (US$23, €16), nurses and auxiliary staff 30,000 (US$17, €12) and 20,000 (US$12, €8) respectively, he said. Since the threat of the strike, the United Nations children's agency has offered to contribute money toward the extra payments. "Health workers are taking a great risk in supporting their communities and they need to be supported in that," said UNICEF's country representative Keith McKenzie. Ebola typically kills most of those it strikes through massive blood loss, and has no cure or treatment. It is spread through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person, or objects that have been contaminated with infected secretions.
Situation Update No. 21 On 06.12.2007 at 04:27 GMT+2 Open Close
1. Two doctors died this week while fighting an outbreak of Ebola that has killed at least 21 people in Uganda, AFP reports. The U.N.'s news agency, says more than 60 people have been infected with Ebola, a rare and deadly disease that causes bleeding from the orifices. Uganda's Health Ministry reported on its website Monday that the first case of hemorrhagic fever was reported in August, after the patient ate a dead goat. The agency says the first confirmed case of Ebola came at the end of November. Health experts say they've never before seen this strain of the virus.
2. Tourists visiting the Rwenzori region are not at risk of catching Ebola, the Uganda Wildlife Authority executive director has said reports Geresom Musamali. Moses Mapesa yesterday said hygiene and good sanitary practices were emphasised in the tourist facilities that include the Queen Elizabeth and Kibaale national parks and the ice-capped Margarita peak of Mt. Rwenzori. Dismissing reports that the wildlife officials had issued an Ebola alert to tourists, Mapesa said: "Nobody is in danger of catching Ebola for as long as they jump into tourist vehicles in Kampala and head straight for the hotels and lodges in the national parks and game reserves. Mapesa pointed out that wildlife authority staff live inside the parks and reserves, far from the villages where cases of Ebola had been reported. He said there had been no decline in tourist traffic. Over 80 people have been reported to have caught the deadly viral disease in the Rwenzori region.
Situation Update No. 20 On 05.12.2007 at 04:50 GMT+2 Open Close
AS the country grapples with the deadly Ebola outbreak in western Uganda, medics are struggling to contain a rising spate of meningitis and bubonic plague in West Nile, cholera in Hoima and Buliisa, and yellow fever in the northern district of Kitgum. The Minister of State for Primary Healthcare, Dr Emmanuel Otaala, announced the simultaneous contagions during a press conference in Kampala yesterday moments before he rushed to Parliament - where he outlined the contingency plans put in place by the government to scuttle the further spread of the highly communicable Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Parliament heard that Nebbi District is facing the brunt of a plague outbreak, while suspected cases of meningococcal meningitis have been reported in Arua District. Dr Otaala stunned the House when he said suspected cases of hepatitis had been recorded in Kitgum District on top of the yellow fever, adding that "my ministry is doing everything it can to handle the situations." In a follow up interview, Mr Patrick Anguzu, the Arua District health officer said the re-emergence of meningoccocal meningitis that has been on a low key since July 10, had killed 27 people out of 255 registered cases. "The most affected areas are Arivu Subcounty in Vurra County and parts of Upper Madi (constituency)," Mr Anguzu said on phone yesterday. Dr Sam Zaramba, the director general of health services, had earlier said medics in West Nile region had been put on high alert over the meningitis epidemic, which claimed at least 65 lives among over 2, 000 infected persons when the disease struck in December 2006 to March this year.
At the time, the government with support from the World Health Organisation and MSF - France, undertook partial mass vaccinations in Arua, Koboko, Yumbe, Moyo and Nebbi districts, but this time round, it is counties like Vurra in Arua, which were not covered during the immunization that are registering the renewed infections. At the press conference, Dr Otaala attributed the incessant occurrence of plague in Nebbi along the frontier line with the DR Congo, to the primitive culture of the indigenous people "where men sleep on beds while women sleep on the floor." "The people mainly affected are women because in that district (Nebbi), women only come up on the bed (for sex)," Dr Otaala said, at the Media Centre in Kampala. "The flea (that causes plague) can only jump up to six inches (high) and (that means) if everybody was sleeping on a bed, there would be no plague in this country," Dr Zaramba said in a separate interview. Plague is usually transmitted to humans through a bite of a flea from an infected rodent host, mainly rats and squirrels and occasionally through handling of infected animals, according to online medical publications.
Dr Zaramba said the ministry had dispatched medics to investigate reports of the plague outbreak in Nebbi, amid reports that the disease has reportedly affected between 25-30 residents. Referring to the Nebbi incidences, Dr Zaramba added; "It is disheartening to see that a section in Uganda's society can let women sleep on the floor while men sleep on beds". Common symptoms of plague include; high fever, chills, headache, bulged armpit lymph nodes and swollen glands. Dr Zaramba said the ministry had also sent personnel to Kitgum in the Acholi Sub region to establish if the suspected contagion there is truly yellow fever or hepatitis as is being suspected. The cholera cases so far registered in Hoima District are among fishermen in Butiaba; at Wanseko landing site in Buliisa and Panyimur in Nebbi. In his statement to Parliament on Ebola, Dr Otaala said his ministry was in dire need of Shs6 billion to contain the disease. But MPs questioned the government's responsiveness to epidemics outbreak, with speaker after speaker querying why the government did not announce the outbreak of Ebola on August 20 when its first case was reported. "When we wanted money for Chogm, we passed it without problems," said Kapelebyong MP Johnson Malinga. "Now here is a minister lamenting that they want Shs6 billion." "We need urgent financial resources," said Bundibudyo MP Jane Babiha. "Volunteers are withdrawing because they haven't been paid. This is a life and death matter. We want to see money in the districts as soon as possible."
Situation Update No. 19 On 05.12.2007 at 04:21 GMT+2 Open Close
A 33-year-old man from Kyenjojo district, who had been admitted at Virika Hospital in Fort Portal with suspected Ebola, died yesterday afternoon [3 Dec 2007]. If confirmed, his demise would bring to 17 the number of people who have died since the outbreak of the epidemic in August [2007]. The team that visited Bundibugyo Hospital yesterday also learnt that 4 more medical workers were suspected to be infected. They were among the 9 patients treated at one of the 2 isolation units in the hospital. All of them were health workers, including the matron and a nursing assistant of the UPDF [Uganda People's Defence Force]. The unit, formerly an anti-natal ward, seen by a New Vision team, was poorly equipped and understaffed. There was only one male nurse, who was wearing gloves and a mask, but no protective over-all. The doors were not locked and there was no sign that this was an isolation ward. About 5 attendants walked in and out, some were wearing either gloves or masks, while others were not protected at all. One attendant, dressed in white, was touching a patient with her bare hands, as if she was not aware of the danger. No doctors were seen at the hospital. The superintendent was still admitted in a private wing of the hospital. His condition was said to have improved.
Though foreign experts were reported to have come in to help with the treatment, none were seen by The New Vision team at Bundibugyo Hospital. Contrary to findings by The New Vision, the Ministry of Health said only 6 new cases of Ebola had been reported over the last week, including one health worker. "All the other 6 health care workers who had been put under quarantine because of Ebola-related complaints are still under observation," said a statement by Dr. Sam Zaramba, the Director General of Health Services. According to Zaramba, experts from the World Health Organisation, Medecins sans Frontieres and the Centres for Disease Control had arrived in the country to help with laboratory diagnosis, case research and management. A permanent laboratory will be set up this week at the Uganda Virus Research Institute Entebbe to speed up the diagnosis of Ebola and other viral haemorrhagic fevers, while equipment for the laboratory is expected to arrive today [4 Dec 2007], the statement added. Currently, samples have to be taken to South Africa or the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA.
Meanwhile, the UPDF has deployed a team of medical officers and health educators to Bundibugyo. They will assist in the management of Ebola patients and sensitising the public. UPDF 2nd Division spokesperson, Lt. Tabaro Kiconco, said more personnel from the UPDF Medical Department would be deployed in Bundibugyo today, while emergency supplies would be delivered to Kabarole. No new cases have been reported in Kabarole. So far, 2 patients with Ebola symptoms have been admitted in Buhinga Hospital in Fort-Portal, of which one died. Following the Ebola outbreak, the 5 districts of the Rwenzori region have postponed their joint education week celebrations, which were slated to start today in Kasese. Other reports from Bundibugyo say elders have resorted to consulting their oracles and sacrificing to their ancestors to appease the gods.
Situation Update No. 18 On 04.12.2007 at 14:50 GMT+2 Open Close
At least 75 Ugandans are now suspected to have contracted a previously unknown strain of the lethal Ebola virus, although the death toll in the east African country remains at 18, an official said on Tuesday. Uganda confirmed on Sunday it had 58 cases of the virus, which causes symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding. The infected include medical staff looking after Ebola patients, deputy health minister Dr. Emmanuel Otaala said. "Since the outbreak started back in August, we have registered 75 suspected cases," he told reporters. Otaala said all patients were in Uganda's western Bundibugyo district, bordering Democratic Republic of Congo, except one nurse being treated in the Ugandan capital Kampala who contracted it in Bundibugyo.
Otaala denied claims in the local press that the government knew of the outbreak but concealed it to avoid putting off the 53 heads of government and thousands of delegates -- including Britain's Queen Elizabeth -- who came to Kampala 11 days ago for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The government announced the Ebola outbreak four days after the summit ended, fuelling speculation of a cover-up. "We did not keep quiet after learning that we were dealing with Ebola. The medical fraternity would not go to the expense of leaving people to die...because we are hosting CHOGM," Otaala said. Genetic analysis of samples taken from some victims shows this virus is a previously unrecorded type of Ebola, making it the fifth strain, U.S. and Ugandan health officials say. The World Health Organisation says it is concerned about the way the virus keeps mutating. Victims of Ebola -- known to infect humans, chimpanzees and gorillas -- often die of blood loss, but the fever and dehydration can also kill. Otaala said this strain was less lethal than previous ones identified, which normally kill 50 to 90 percent of those infected. "We have so far registered 18 deaths ... this is a 25 percent (death rate). That means we are dealing with a milder form of Ebola," he said.
Situation Update No. 17 On 04.12.2007 at 11:09 GMT+2 Open Close
Rwandan authorities have reinforced border health controls to prevent the lethal Ebola virus from spreading across the frontier from western Uganda. "We are extremely worried since this region (western Uganda) is not far away from us and commercial and social exchanges are considerable," Innocent Nyaruhirira, the secretary for HIV/AIDS and other epidemics, said on Saturday. So far, no Ebola cases have been detected in Rwanda, he added. The Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control on Friday announced a new strain of Ebola with new characteristics from the classic virus that had been detected in Bundibugyo district in Uganda. Virologists say previous strains destroyed the linings of blood capillaries and vessels, prompting fluids to drain out of the circulatory system through the body?s orifices and pores, killing the victim through shock. But there is not much bleeding in the new strain that appears to kill its victims after provoking a high fever, they say.
Situation Update No. 16 On 04.12.2007 at 04:30 GMT+2 Open Close
Three people with suspected Ebola were admitted to hospital Monday in western Uganda, where the virus has killed 18 people and is spreading from village to village, government officials said. "Three cases were admitted today, bringing the total to 64," said Samuel Kazinga, the district commissioner for Bundibugyo, the epicentre of the new outbreak. With five experts from the Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control (CDC) expected to arrive on Tuesday, efforts to isolate and intern patients in Bundibugyo, near the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), appeared to suffer setbacks. "Some people refuse to come out of their home to seek treatment, but our social mobilisation team is trying to convince them to come out," Kazinga said, describing the phenomenon as "psychological." CDC Special Pathogens Branch chief Thomas Ksiazek said it was not yet clear whether the Ebola virus causing the current outbreak was more or less deadly than the previously known strains. "There is very little information about the eventual outcome in the [cases] that have been confirmed so far," Ksiazek was quoted as telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper. Ksiazek's colleague, CDC epidemiologist Eileen Farnon, part of the team headed to Bundibugyo, explained the key issue is to collect information on the effects of the disease that has no cure. "The most important consideration is to have a sense of what's been going on with the outbreak: How many people are affected, where and when the outbreak is moving, and trying to stop transmission," Farnon told the paper. A health ministry team was in the western province pleading with villagers not to touch sick patients and isolate them.
Meanwhile, a patient who had been isolated in neighbouring Port Portale district died, but his sample -- alongside with another of patient who died in the southern Mbarara region -- were still lying in Uganda's Virus Research Institute awaiting screening. A health ministry official said more pathogen experts were expected later this week. "By Thursday, we shall have 30 international health experts on the ground and by the end of the week, we expect more experienced Ugandan doctors there," said the official. Spread primarily by blood contact, Ebola was identified last week by the CDC pathogen branch after simmering unnoticed in the impoverished region since September. The World Health Organisation said the new outbreak was a previously unknown strain that provokes high fever before killing its victims without much blood haemorrhage. This is unlike the known Ebola subtypes, which rapture blood vessels, killing their patients by shock after non-stop bleeding through body orifices, doctors said. The disease killed at least 170 people in northern Uganda in 2000.
The Ebola virus has remained rare and mystifying since it was first discovered in DR Congo and Sudan in 1976 and other outbreaks have since hit Ivory Coast and Gabon. Experts have said the disease, which strikes with an initial ferocity but fades away in months, is usually containable because it kills its victims faster that it can spread to new ones. The virulence of the disease slashes its chances of multiplying and spreading further, they say.
Situation Update No. 15 On 04.12.2007 at 04:14 GMT+2 Open Close
Medical authorities in Uganda have expressed concern over the possible spread of the deadly Ebola disease in the western region after suspected cases were reported in 2 neighbouring districts. Sam Zaramba, the director of medical services in the health ministry, told IRIN on Mon 3 Dec 2007 that a patient with symptoms similar to those reported in Bundibugyo district, the epicentre of the outbreak, died on Sun 2 Dec 2007 at Mbarara hospital, farther southwest, causing fears that the disease was spreading out of Bundibugyo. Another suspected case had also been isolated at Virika hospital in Fort Portal district, next to Bundibugyo, Zaramba said. "We are waiting for the results of the samples for the 2 suspected victims," he told IRIN by telephone. Another medical official, who requested anonymity, said: "There is cause to worry when we start getting these cases overshooting and appearing in other areas because this complicates contact surveillance. One medical officer who worked on the 1st cases but moved to Kampala [the capital] to attend to personal issues has also fallen sick and was admitted to Mulago [the main hospital in Kampala]; we are trying to follow his contacts."
Several dozen medics and support staff have fled western Uganda after their co-workers became infected with the virus in an outbreak that has already killed 16 people and infected at least 58 others. A government official in Bundibugyo, Samuel Kazinga, said a quarantine had been declared in all homes in the district that had registered a case in order to control contacts and ease monitoring. "We are mobilising the public to take precautionary measures through public announcements on the radio and talking to people through community [leaders]," Kazinga said. He said Bundibugyo had appealed for help, but efforts to contain the outbreak, which began in September 2007, although it was only identified as Ebola last week, have been hampered by lack of medical personnel. "We have a shortage of health workers, and we need more because those who were there on the ground have been infected: 2 doctors, a medical officer and a nurse. We are trying to get more medical workers to go to the region and help in the fight," said Zaramba. Zaramba had initially said 2 more patients succumbed to the virus on Sat 1 Dec 2007, bringing the toll to 18. But the health ministry on Mon 3 Dec 2007 revised the number back to 16, saying the 2 deaths had since been confirmed as due to other causes. "Cumulatively, we now have 16 deaths and 58 cases," he said.
Patients were quarantined in Bundibugyo hospital's isolation ward near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has had outbreaks of the virulent disease in the past. "Those admitted are mainly health workers and those who attended to the patients," Zaramba said. Previous Ebola fatalities among medical workers have been blamed on poor sanitation and hygiene in health centres that lack protective suits, masks, latex gloves and other equipment. Ebola spreads through body fluids, particularly blood, putting health workers without protective gear at risk. Ebola sub-types usually attack capillaries and blood vessel linings, so patients lose blood rapidly and die of shock, doctors say. The new Uganda subtype kills patients by provoking high fever, but without much loss of blood. There is no vaccine or cure for Ebola. "The situation is not yet under control," Zaramba said. "The main challenge we are facing is detecting cases and following up on those who had contact with the patients." A team of epidemiologists and virologists arrived in the region on Sat 1 Dec 2007 to try to retrace the source of the virus as part of a campaign to avoid future epidemics. Authorities said a team of pathogen experts from the Centers for Disease Control in the US were expected in the country on Tue 4 Dec 2007 to beef up the local response to the disease, including bringing laboratory facilities to detect infections more easily.
An outbreak killed at least 170 people in Uganda's northern Gulu district in 2000. Another recent outbreak killed at least 26 people in DRC's West Kasai region. The Ebola virus was 1st identified in 1976 in Sudan and in a nearby region of DRC, then Zaire. Outbreaks of Ebola have also occurred in the Ivory Coast and Gabon.
Situation Update No. 14 On 03.12.2007 at 11:36 GMT+2 Open Close
Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo District has paralyzed businesses and social activities in the larger part of western Uganda. Bundibugyo Rural District Council (RDC) Samuel Kazinga said many residents in districts of Kasese, Bundibugyo and Kabarole have confined themselves at home for fear of catching the disease. "The district has not yet been officially quarantined but it has happened naturally because locals here and in neighboring districts are no longer moving from their localities. Businesses are paralyzed and we are worried for what will come next," Kazinga was quoted by Daily Monitor on Saturday. This follows confirmatory laboratory tests which showed that the strange viral disease that has been battering the district since August is Ebola haemorrhagic fever, a deadly plague for which there is no cure. Ugandan health ministry Thursday confirmed that 16 people out of 51 infected cases already died. By Thursday evening, at least 14 villages had been affected. The government has dispatched a response team of medical experts in the district to trace contacts of the deadly Ebola patients. "Part of the response team from Kampala is already here and I am heading it to ensure that we arrest the situation," said William Sikyewunda, the district director of health services for Bundibugyo.
Sikyewunda said Kikyo Health Center IV in Kasitu Sub-county on the foothills of Mount Rwenzori has been declared the Ebola treatment center. He said seven new cases had been recorded at the center. In Kabarole, a scare was sparked off by the death of unidentified man who is reported to have left Bundibugyo on Wednesday. Health officials issued a countrywide Ebola alert and urged the public to be vigilant and promptly report any suspected cases of very high fever, diarrhea, vomiting associated with red eyes and a measles-like rash to the nearest health facility or call on phone hotlines. Ebola last struck Uganda in the northern district of Gulu in October 2000 and killed 224 people. Ebola hemorrhagic fever is one of the most virulent viral diseases known to humankind, causing death in 50 to 90 percent of cases. The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or semen of infected persons. The Ebola virus was identified in 1976 in the western equatorial province of Sudan and in the nearby region of Yambuku, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire).
Situation Update No. 13 On 03.12.2007 at 04:44 GMT+2 Open Close
The Uganda Red Cross Society has sent an assessment team to Bundibugyo district to support the Ministry of Health in containing the deadly Ebola hemorrhagic disease. A total of 100 volunteers, who participated in containing Ebola in Gulu district in 2000, were also sent to the area following the death of 18 people. The Red Cross will sensitise the community about the disease through door-to-door sessions as part of the preventive measures. They also identify suspected Ebola cases and report them to the Ministry of Health, according to a statement issued by the secretary-general, Alice Uwase Anukur. "As part of our operations, re-integration in the communities will be done to ensure that households with suspected cases are not discriminated within the communities as this causes stigma and psychological torture," she said.
Situation Update No. 12 On 02.12.2007 at 18:26 GMT+2 Open Close
The World Health Organization expressed concern on Friday about the emergence of a new strain of the Ebola virus that has infected 51 people and killed 16 in western Uganda. The outbreak, announced by U.S. and Ugandan health officials, is in Bundibugyo, near the border with Democratic Republic of Congo. Genetic analysis of samples taken from some of the victims shows it is a previously unknown type of Ebola, making it the fifth strain, they said. "We do not yet know yet exactly the lethality of this virus because we haven't tested all the samples," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing in Geneva. "But, obviously, anytime we're looking at Ebola and a new strain of Ebola, this presents a new challenge. So we're very concerned." Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever, meaning it can cause internal and external bleeding. Victims often die of shock but symptoms can be vague, including fever, muscle pain and nausea. It is known to infect humans, chimpanzees and gorillas. Ugandan health officials have said the new strain appears to be relatively mild, but Dr. Tom Ksiazek of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was not yet clear whether this was the case. He said experts need to check to see how many diagnosed patients are still alive. Patients with the new strain showed some clinical symptoms, including vomiting, that differed from the usual ones, Hartl said. "We are very concerned about this because it does not present (clinically) in exactly the same way as other Ebola strains," he said. Health officials are trying to trace all possible cases in order to test them and isolate them if necessary, he added.
Situation Update No. 11 On 02.12.2007 at 17:27 GMT+2 Open Close
The Ebola outbreak that has killed 18 people in western Uganda appears to be spreading, officials said on Sunday, as authorities examined a sample taken from a dead patient in the south of the country. Government officials said that the disease, which flared in September, had spread to three new zones in the impoverished Bundibugyo district near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Virologists were meanwhile examining a sample taken from a suspected victim who died overnight in Mbarara region, 160km southeast of the affected district.
Health officials said several dozen medics and support staff had fled the Bundibugyo when their co-workers became infected with the virus in an outbreak that has already killed 18 people and infected 61. Virologists were also investigating an isolated patient in the neighbouring Port Portale district as well as the fatality in Mbarara. "There are fears that the disease has spread," said a top health ministry official, who requested to remain unnamed. "We are waiting for the results from the samples," he said of the two cases that have spread panic in the east African nation. The disease, which is fatal in 90% of cases, is spread by contact of body fluids, primarily contamination of blood.
Meanwhile, epidemiologists and virologists are in Bundibugyo district to try to trace backwards the source of the virus as part of a campaign to avoid future outbreaks. Authorities say the outbreak was an unknown strain after analysis was done on tissue samples at the laboratories of the Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control. Known Ebola sub-types usually attack capillaries and blood vessel linings, draining the body of blood through openings, leaving the patient to die in shock, doctors say. But the new Uganda subtype, which provokes high fever, kills victims without much loss of blood.
Situation Update No. 10 On 01.12.2007 at 19:07 GMT+2 Open Close
Two more Ugandans have died of a new strain of the deadly Ebola virus in an outbreak near the border with Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing the death-toll to 18, health officials said on Saturday. "We have had two more deaths in the last 24 hours, and the disease continues to spread," Sam Zaramba, the Ugandan Health Ministry's director of health services.
Situation Update No. 9 On 01.12.2007 at 06:23 GMT+2 Open Close
Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo District has paralysed businesses and social activities in the larger part of western Uganda. Bundibugyo RDC Samuel Kazinga said many residents in Kasese, Bundibugyo and Kabarole have confined themselves at home for fear of catching the disease, "The district has not yet been officially quarantined but it has happened naturally because locals here and in neighbouring districts are no longer moving from their localities. Businesses are paralysed and we are worried for what will come next," he said on telephone on Friday. This follows confirmatory laboratory tests which showed that the strange viral disease that has been battering the district since August is Ebola haemorrhagic fever, a deadly plague for which there is no cure. Sixteen people have so far been reported dead and 51 others infected, according to the Health ministry. However, unofficial reports put the number of the
gregg
Jan 23 2008, 09:17 PM
Ohhh, you were talking about bird flu!
Situation Update No. 3 On 18.01.2008 at 13:32 GMT+2 Open Close
DEFRA will confirm this afternoon that a fifth mute swan at Abbotsbury Swannery, in Dorset, has tested positive for H5N1 avian flu. Surveillance has been stepped up at the sanctuary, in Dorset, since three mute swans were found to have the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 last Thursday. The disease has still not been found in poultry and is not thought to be circulating widely in wild birds.
Situation Update No. 2 On 16.01.2008 at 17:25 GMT+2 Open Close
The British government confirmed on Wednesday that another mute swan has tested positive for highly pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza following confirmation on Jan. 10 of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in three swans in Dorset, southern England. The swan was collected on Jan. 11 as part of wild bird surveillance from the same area, and has tested H5N1 positive, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement. There is currently no evidence to suggest widespread disease in the wild bird population, but enhanced surveillance is taking place and poultry keepers in the area are reminded to remain vigilant and report any signs of disease immediately, the department said. There is no evidence of disease in domestic birds, it said. The Control Area and the Monitoring Area have been established since the first confirmation of the disease. Within the zones, bird movements are restricted. Avian Influenza is a disease of birds. While it can pass very rarely and with difficulty to humans, this usually requires extremely close contact with infected birds, particularly faeces. Advice from the Food Standards Agency remains that properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.
Situation Update No. 1 On 14.01.2008 at 17:14 GMT+2 Open Close
The Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has confirmed highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza among swans in the Chesil Beach area in Dorset . A Wild Bird Control Area and Monitoring Area are being established by Defra around the premises, encompassing Chesil Beach and Portland Bill, and the shape of these is based on expert ornithological advice. This is to prevent the potential for further spread to neighbouring flocks and/or farms. Despite this incident the current level of risk to humans from H5N1 avian influenza remains extremely low. Nonetheless, any possibility of exposure is taken very seriously and the Health Protection Agency is working closely with Defra and local NHS partners to ensure that all the necessary actions are being taken to protect those people who may have been exposed to the sick or dead birds. These actions include the offering of antiviral drugs and seasonal influenza vaccine where appropriate to people who have been in close contact with the infected swans. Avian influenza, or 'bird flu', is a contagious disease of birds caused by viruses, that normally only infects wild birds and, rarely, other species including domestic poultry. Evidence from past outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza shows that the virus does not easily infect people and there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission. The current level of risk to humans from avian flu is extremely low and there is no need for local residents to restrict or change their everyday activity. Most human H5N1 infections so far have occurred through direct contact with live or dead infected poultry or very rarely via wild birds.
That's around Ireland.
A new outbreak of the strain of bird flu that is deadly to humans has struck Ukraine after being kept under control for two years, veterinarians said on Friday. Ukraine's Veterinary Inspectorate said the outbreak was detected this week in the village of Rovnoye in the Crimean peninsula, the same region hit in late 2005. A total of 153 birds died suddenly at a private firm where more than 25,000 poultry were kept. "Yesterday, tests were concluded and DNA of the H5N1 virus was found," said a veterinary inspectorate spokesman, Anatoly Osadchi. "The village has been sealed off, guards have been posted at entry points and a quarantine is in place. All the birds are being incinerated." The inspectorate said the first six deaths were noted on Tuesday, followed by dozens more over the next two days. )
And more:
Agricultural authorities say the bird flu virus has been detected in tests following the deaths of fowl in the northern parts of Turkey. The virus was detected in the village of Saz in Zonguldak province, the Agriculture ministry said on Monday. urther tests are underway to determine whether the virus was the virulent H5N1, or other types of avian flu. Experts worry that the H5N1 strain, which remains hard for people to catch, will mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been traced to direct contact with sick birds. During an H5N1 outbreak in Turkey in January 2006, 12 people were infected and four of them died. )
And something else:
Fifteen new suspected cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of the avian flu virus were reported last week in five governorates in Egypt as government measures to strengthen national pandemic preparedness provoked mixed reactions in Cairo's streets. According to local media, the latest cases were detected in Qena, Al-Buheira, Al-Gharbia, Al-Minya and Al-Sohag. The patients were admitted to hospital for treatment and surveillance after suffering high temperatures and breathing problems. In response, the government's Supreme National Committee for Combating Bird Flu met last week to discuss the current outbreak and to implement measures to combat the spread of bird flu. Amr Kandeel, an official in the Ministry of Health's communicable diseases department, told IRIN that the bird flu committee is focusing on five measures to curb the spread of the virus: active surveillance; public awareness campaigns; support of public health teams in hospitals; stockpiling of flu treatment drug Tamiflu, antiviral medications and vaccination equipment; and the setting up of a telephone hotline to answer public enquiries. In addition, Kandeel said the Ministry of Agriculture had banned the sale of live birds in Cairo's markets. "Poultry sellers who do not abide by the protection measures will face forced closure of their shops," he said in a phone interview.
While empty bird cages in many of Cairo's poultry shops reflect the efficiency of the government crackdown, many in the poultry business said they would ignore the ban as they felt the government was over-reacting. One poultry seller in Old Cairo's Khan El-Khalili market, who refused to reveal his name fearing arrest, said he would continue to sell live chicken covertly. Nabil Khadar, another poultry seller, was critical of the government's anti-bird flu initiatives. "I have heard about bird flu - it's famous nowadays," he said. "But there is nothing here; this disease comes from outside [the country]. I am not scared because our chicken is good and healthy but the government wants to scare us. Chicken is the cornerstone of our economy; it's cheap and nourishes our families." Poultry is the main source of food and income for about five million households across Egypt. As such, a large number of people keep and raise domestic poultry, making it difficult to eradicate bird flu completely, the government says. Two weeks ago, the bird flu committee banned domestic poultry raising altogether and oversaw the culling of all poultry infected with the bird flu virus. It also reinforced an existing ban on transporting poultry from one governorate to another without official inspection and clearance.
Despite such restrictions, those in the restaurant business say it is business as usual. "There is no danger that bird flu could hurt my business," Ahmed Arafa, manager of the Midan Hussein branch of the Gad restaurant chain, said while watching one of his employees scrape chicken meat off a grill to make a shawarma sandwich for a customer. "My customers are not scared. I buy my chicken from the big farms in the countryside where hygiene standards and medical controls are better." Since the H5N1 strain of bird flu was first detected in Egypt in February 2006, the country has had the largest number of human bird flu cases outside the Asian continent. Four deaths at the turn of this year brought the number of fatalities caused by bird flu in Egypt to 19.)
But, there's more:
Iran has reported an outbreak of deadly H5N1 bird flu among free-range chickens, the World Organisation for Animal Health said Thursday. The outbreak on Dec. 10 was not reported to the Paris-based body until Wednesday, it said. Iran reported that 14 birds were infected and that another 475 were destroyed, said the animal health organization, also known as the OIE. It is an intergovernmental body responsible for improving animal health worldwide. The OIE has been at the forefront of global efforts to monitor and fight H5N1, which scientists have tracked because they fear it may mutate into a human flu virus that starts a pandemic. The outbreak was in Mazandaran province on the Caspian Sea, the OIE said. It said investigations are under way to trace the source of the infection and its - probable spread.)
Maybe a couple more:
Situation Update No. 3 On 18.01.2008 at 10:01 GMT+2 Open Close
The dreaded H5N1 bird flu virus - whose outbreak has been confirmed in West Bengal - is more infectious than previously thought, according to World Health Organisation experts. The virus can travel by sticking to surfaces, get kicked up in dust and feed to infect people and contaminate ponds and lakes, the experts said in a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine. This is a cause of worry for India, as ponds and catchments are sources of water in several villages. In India, the WHO sounded another alert, saying the Bengal outbreak was more serious than the previous outbreaks in Maharashtra and Manipur. “More serious risk factors are associated with this current outbreak than previously encountered, including that the affected areas are more widespread and because of proximity to extended border areas,” said a WHO expert in India.
For the journal, the WHO team reviewed all known human cases of bird flu, which has infected 350 people in 14 countries and killed 217 since 2003. It found that 25 per cent of cases had no explanation. Most are passed directly from bird to people, and rarely one person can infect another — always via intimate physical contact. “For some patients, the only identified risk factor was visiting a live-poultry market. In one quarter or more of patients with influenza A (H5N1) virus infection, the source of exposure is unclear, and environment-to-human transmission remains possible,” wrote study leader Dr Frederick Hayden. "Eating well-cooked chicken cannot infect people, but ingestion of virus-contaminated products or swimming or bathing in virus-contaminated water might pose a risk," he wrote.
Although birds in over 60 countries have been infected with the H5N1 strain, people have rarely got infected. "After exposure to infected poultry, the incubation period generally appears to be 7 days or less, and in many cases this period is 2 to 5 days," the report said. H5N1 infection usually causes severe pneumonia. On the symptoms, the experts wrote, "It is unknown whether influenza A (H5N1) virus infection can begin in the human gastrointestinal tract." "In several patients, diarrheal disease preceded respiratory symptoms, and virus has been detected in feces," they wrote. The experts feared that H5N1 might mutate or combine with seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people. The virus kills within 9 to 10 days and has killed 61 per cent of infected people since 2003. Since the viruses do not commonly infect people, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population. Quick use of antiviral drugs can save lives, with oseltamivir (brandname Tamiflu) being the drug of choice.
Situation Update No. 2 On 17.01.2008 at 04:45 GMT+2 Open Close
Coming at a time when the deadly H5N1 avian influenza or bird flu virus is spreading terror in Birbhum, South 24-Parganas and other districts in West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh, the deaths of thousands of chickens in some villages of Nadia bordering Bangladesh for the past 15 days have sent alarm bells ringing. The possibility seems strong since at least 5,000 chickens have died of an unknown disease and villagers of Srirampur, Pratapnagar, Jannagar, Kanainagar, Kanchantala, Rajapur and Uttar Tazpur under the Tehatta-I block and Burnia under Tehatta-II block are panicking as the affected chickens had not responded to the medication.Though the symptoms were akin to the Ranikhet disease, the medicines used to combat the virus did not work on the chickens, said Mr Jinnat Ali, upa pradhan of Kanainagar gram panchayat. Mrs Saraswati Biswas, panchayat pradhan of Kanainagar gram panchayat, said: “At least 5,000 chickens have died of an unknown disease at several villages in the panchayat during the last 15 days. The first symptoms were detected when the birds looked drowsy. They died within 48 hours. Hundreds of villagers from Uttar Tazpur, Pratapnagar and Rajapur had the same experience. The deaths have been particularly worrisome, since villagers, mostly from the minority community depend on these birds for their livelihood.” Mr Arup Sengupta, Tehatta sub-divisional officer, said: “I have received information about the deaths of some chickens in a few villages yesterday but it is yet to be confirmed whether the birds died of flu.
The district health department and animal husbandry officials were in the spot today and they have taken measures to combat the situation.” Mr Onkar Singh Meena, district magistrate, said: “We are prepared for any eventuality. The veterinary officers and health officials are working in the affected villages and collecting samples. We will first send the samples to Kolkata for identification of the virus and if the reports do point at bird flu, we will take steps.” The Kanaipur panchayat today banned the sale of birds in the panchayat area and neighbouring villages from where abnormal mortality of chickens has been reported. The India-Bangladesh border has been sealed to prevent chicken entry from Bangladesh. At Baruipur in South 24-Parganas also, more than 50 chickens died in two poultry farms over the past five days triggering fears that Avian Flu struck the district. According to reports, district administration has sounded an alert after death of birds were reported. Blood samples of chickens of these two firms have been sent to the city for tests. Unofficial sources said that nearly 200 birds had died in Baruipur over the past week.
Situation Update No. 1 On 15.01.2008 at 06:41 GMT+2 Open Close
Birbhum district authorities have made all arrangements to carry out culling of poultry in Rampurhat area after thousands of chickens died in the area over the past few days. The disease was not declared as bird flu officially. However, senior district official said that preliminary report from the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal had confirmed the presence of H5N1 virus. A team from the state veterinary department comprising 300 officials had reached the area to help in precautionary measures. Villagers have been asked to wear masks and cover their hands and legs while feeding birds. Isolated wards are required to quarantine people affected avian flu. The Health department decided to set up such isolated wards in Basoa health centre in Rampurhat and Rampurhat sub divisional hospital preliminarily.
Situation Update No. 4 On 19.01.2008 at 19:28 GMT+2 Open Close
Officials confirmed new outbreaks of bird flu in western India on Saturday as health workers slaughtered more poultry in a bid to curb the spread of the disease. Tests determined that nearly 3,000 chickens found dead Thursday in a previously unaffected district had died of bird flu, according to Anisur Rahman, West Bengal state's animal husbandry minister. Bird flu was also confirmed in a separate southern district of West Bengal, Rahman said. Officials ordered the slaughter of 400,000 birds, mostly chickens, after birds began getting sick several days ago in the state. Rahman said that number would likely be boosted to 600,000. Authorities were still awaiting test results to determine whether it was the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has been blamed for the deaths of at least 218 people worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. No human cases have been reported in India, despite two previous H5N1 outbreaks among birds. About 60,000 birds have been slaughtered in recent days, but health workers are reportedly facing resistance from farmers because they believe the government isn't adequately compensating them.
Health workers were going door-to-door in the affected areas, which border Bangladesh, where a more limited outbreak has killed 20 birds. Officials were looking for people with high fevers or breathing trouble. The Bangladesh outbreak has been confirmed as the H5N1 strain. Authorities in eastern Nepal, meanwhile, have banned the import of chickens and eggs from India and Bangladesh to prevent the spread of bird flu. The H5N1 virus has afflicted more than 60 countries since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in 2003, forcing the slaughter of hundreds of millions of birds worldwide. It remains hard for people to catch, but experts fear it may mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds.
If that is not enough:
Bird flu has killed nearly 500 chickens at a poultry farm in northeastern Bangladesh in what officials said on Sunday was the first outbreak of the disease in that area.
The farm is in Moulavibazar district, about 250 km (155 miles) from the capital, said Salehuddin Khan, director of the government's livestock department."After the confirmation of bird flu, authorities culled nearly 800 chickens, ducks and birds in a one-kilometer area around the affected farm," he said.The H5N1 avian flu virus was first reported near the capital in March last year and has since spread mainly to northern districts, forcing authorities to kill more than 300 000 chickens.
With the latest outbreak, 71 farms in 22 of Bangladesh's 64 districts have been infected with the deadly virus.There are around 150 000 poultry farms in Bangladesh, with an annual turnover of $750-million, officials say.About four million Bangladeshis are directly or indirectly associated with poultry farming, but so far there have been no cases of human infection in the densely populated country, government officials say.Experts fear the bird flu virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people.)
But that's not all:
Bird flu may have killed a 32-year-old Vietnamese man in a northern province where the virus has been found in poultry, state-run media and a government report said on Tuesday. The man died at a Hanoi hospital of pneumonia earlier this month, two days after he had been taken in from Tuyen Quang province, said the hospital's deputy director Nguyen Hong Ha. The man fell ill on Jan. 16 after eating chicken which had died of unknown cause. Dead chicken and white-winged ducks were also found near his house, the newspaper quoted a relative as saying. Vietnamese doctors were testing to see if the man had been infected by the H5N1 virus.
The H5N1 virus remains mainly a virus of birds, but experts fear it could mutate into a form easily transmitted from person to person and sweep the world, killing millions. In a separate report, the Animal Health Department said tests have confirmed that bird flu has infected poultry in Tuyen Quang province. It said chickens and white-winged ducks died at a farm in the province early this month and health officials took samples from 11 birds on Jan 17. for bird flu tests. They found three of the 11 samples carried the H5N1 virus, the department said. The finding meant Tuyen Quang joined the northern province of Thai Nguyen and the southern province of Tra Vinh in the government's bird flu watchlist which reported the last outbreak among poultry less than 21 days ago. Vietnam reported its latest human death from bird flu last month when the virus killed a four-year-old boy.)
And:
A 16-year-old patient suffering from bird flu has been admitted to Persahabatan Hospital in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, bringing the total number of human cases to 109 in the country, local press reported Monday. The patient is a senior high school student identified only as YF from Jakarta's suburb of Bekasi. His condition was very bad with acute pneumonia when he was brought to the hospital earlier Thursday. A doctor with the hospital's bird flu anticipation division, Erlina Burhan, said the patient's lungs were being treated with a ventilator. "The lungs can absorb oxygen up to 90 percent," she said. )
What was that about not meaning anything to humans?