Ebola in Uganda: November 30 - December 17, 2007

[Treyfish]

Re: Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Monday, December 17, 2007

21 Days! Ebola Bundibugyo on Monday Night



Today we are celebrating emerging from the danger zone, though the joy is heavily mingled with the deep sadness of those who lost their lives, particularly Jonah. In the dark hours after his death we truly thought we might not be writing this today. So we should thank God that for His inscrutable reasons He has ordained that we remain symptom free for 21 days, and in the clear. Melen and family reach their safety zone on Wednesday. In our daily visits I sense a slight lightening of spirit, a hope.

Tonight?s meeting saw the RDC, the LC5, the DDHS, and the CAO (chief administrative officer), the four most powerful men in the district, all back in place. The RDC opened with the statement that the enemy has just made a tactical withdrawal but is not defeated, so don?t relax. The struggle continues.

• Cumulative cases: 126
• Cumulative deaths: 34 (holding for DAYS now); CFR 27%
• Current Admissions: Bundibugyo 5; with 2 new admissions, 1 discharge, and 0 deaths. Kikyo also 5, with 1 new admission, 4 discharges, and 0 deaths. More discharges expected tomorrow.
• Contacts: 487 have been listed, with 408 being actively followed (others like us have reached the 21 day limit). Today 88% of those were evaluated by energetic mobile teams, now boosted by five young MPH students from the Institute of Public Health, all Ugandan doctors who have joined the CDC in their efforts.
• Complaints: tribalism surfaces again, with the Bakonjo claiming that the social mobilization teams are speaking only in Lubwisi . . . Which prompted a LONG discussion of the mobilization effort. Are the Bakonjo areas just harder to reach (steep, scattered), or are the complainers angling for jobs and pay, or is there really any problem at all? Much emphasis was put tonight on using the LC1 system, the political organization of the country, to address communities. I think they ended up deciding that various big men should volunteer to train LC1 chairmen to reach every community.
• Dissension: much discussion again of local herbal remedies, with some herbalists now spreading the word that certain recovered cases only recovered due to their medicines . . . And not so surprisingly, many of the people in the task force are not so sure, the power of the belief in traditional medicine is widespread. A couple of brave voices asked for science to interpret the results, and warned that if herbalists are invited to participate as part of the official task force then we will be inadvertently authenticating their claims.
• Money: there is now a 2 billion shilling plus budget, but the Ministry has to approve it. Refreshing moment: In contrast to all the grabbing we see in the political sphere, we were handed a document today by one of the translators who works on the Lubwisi Bible project, who had taken the information about Ebola and translated it. Unlike everyone else we have encountered, this man wrote at the bottom: translated at no cost, for the good of the people of Bundibugyo and the glory of God. Amen.
  

And the emotions of the day for us: relief, and eager anticipation of going to Kampala tomorrow (Jennifer) to see the kids. At this point we are still planning that the non-medical team stay out, and Scotts and Pat join the rest for Christmas. But our kids call several times a day asking when they can come home, and why not for Christmas. Now that the epidemic has slowed in its relentlessness, we are torn. We don?t want anyone to be exposed. But the chances of that are remote for those who don?t see sick patients. Our kids? friends, who are flocking back to our house, asked today, when are they coming, and why not now if you are safe? Once again, we are torn by our care for these kids, and the painful reality that our standards for our kids and team are different than our standards for local people. Unfair, and stressful when you?re here facing reality. Actually most of the rest of the country and the world is probably more uptight about Ebola than the average person in Bundibugyo, and for good reason. If you aren?t here, then Bundiubugyo = Ebola. If you are here, then you see that 99% of life is about other things, the normal human interactions that constitute a day. Pray for wisdom for us and our mission leadership, who have to buy into the decision on when to sound the all clear.

And tonight, to close, a little reminder of life going on. Dear team mate and friend Heather Pike Agnello is in labor with her first baby, while a few hours from now dear team mate and friend Rick Gray will celebrate the milestone of 50 years (Dec 18!!!). Happy birthdays.

http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/2007/12/21-days-ebola-bundibugyo-on-monday.html

Posted by DrsMyhre at <A class=timestamp-link title="permanent link" href="http://paradoxuganda.blogspot.com/2007/12/21-days-ebola-bundibugyo-on-monday.html" rel=bookmark><ABBR class=published title=2007-12-17T10:57:00-08:00>10:57 AM</ABBR>

[Treyfish]

Re: Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Uganda: Mbale Ebola Suspect's Body Exhumed

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The Monitor (Kampala)
17 December 2007
Posted to the web 17 December 2007
Joseph Malinga
Mbale
A MEDICAL team from the Ministry of Health on Saturday exhumed the body of Olive Esther Mukite suspected to have died of Ebola.
This follows tests indicating that Mukite did not die of the virulent hemorrhagic fever as had earlier been thought.
The Sironko Distrct information officer who on December 6 died of an illness that presented signs similar to Ebola, sending health workers and the public into panic.
Dr Godfrey Bwire, a member of the National Ebola taskforce, however, dismissed fears that Ebola is in the region. The public is in fear even after experts last week announced that Mukite did not die of Ebola.
Daily Monitor has learnt that some district leaders have contested the results, arguing that Mukite might have died of Ebola. But Mukite's relatives and medial experts dismissed the allegations.
"This is a scientific result and the diagnosis was done by WHO. How then does some one say that the result is not correct?" said Dr Bwire. "That is just fear. We as members of the Ebola task force believe in controlling the problem, so we cannot say there is no Ebola when it is there," he said.
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Mukite had temporarily been buried at the government cemetery pending the conformation of whether she had died of Ebola or not.
Dr Bwire said Mukite was a high ranking official who deserved to be burried properly. But as away of following up the infection control procedure, Dr Bwire said the team would follow the body up to Bukhofu village in Butiiru Sub County in Manafwa district to ensure the body is decently buried.
At the cemetery, only few relatives were allowed to acc- company the team that was dressed up in full gear to protect themselves from any other infectious bacteria. http://allafrica.com/stories/200712171490.html

[Treyfish]

Re: Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Uganda: Museveni Shuns Handshakes With Congolese Over Ebola

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The Monitor (Kampala)
17 December 2007
Posted to the web 17 December 2007
Tabu Butagira & Grace Matsiko
Kampala
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni allegedly declined to shake hands with visiting delegates from the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday over fears of contracting the deadly Ebola disease.
"I am happy to receive you in Kampala but unfortunately, I will not shake your hands because of this Ebola disease," Mr Museveni reportedly told the Uganda-DRC Joint Permanent Commission members led by Congo's foreign affairs minister Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi.
Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever or EHF as is known in medical jargon is a viral infection spread through contact with body fluids of an infected person, including sweat and saliva. At the Friday meeting at State House, Mr Museveni just waved to the foreign dignitaries - a significant departure from his usual humorous and palm-gripping greetings to welcome state guests.
About a fortnight ago, Mr Museveni advised Ugandans to avoid handshakes to minimise further dispersion of Ebola to the countryside. This is the second time that the ever-cautious Museveni has publicly skipped handshakes over communicable diseases. While returning from a requiem mass for fallen SPLM/A commander John Garang in south Sudan in August 2005, the President shunned handshakes with Arua town dwellers over fears of cholera, which was ravaging the West Nile municipality at the time.
The highly lethal Ebola erupted in Bundibugyo in August but it was not until November 27, that epidemiological experts at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the US confirmed that what had been christened as a "mysterious illness" was in fact a new sub type of the virulent disease.
Dr. Zabuloni 'Yoti of the World Health Organisation in Uganda, who is in charge of Ebola case management at the epicenter in Bundibugyo, yesterday said two new patients had been admitted at Kikyo health centre IV, bringing the confirmed cumulative infections to 122. The death toll, he said, had remained at 35 since no patient passed away over the weekend "There are currently four people (with Ebola) admitted in Bundibugyo District and eight others at Kikyo health centre," Dr. 'Yoti said.
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He attributed the decline in fresh infections and steady recovery of Ebola victims to early detection and effective treatment of other secondary bacterial infections arising from Ebola attacks. Ministry of health officials and other partner NGOs are optimistic that the dreaded new strain of the Ebola epidemic in western Uganda that caused nationwide panic, maybe on the brink of containment following the weekend lull in fresh infections.
"If we can sustain this trend," said Dr. Sam Zaramba, the Director General of health services, "that would mean the infection is coming under contr ol". Dr. 'Yoti of WHO said he believes the surveillance team has effectively managed to trace and isolate all persons who made contacts with both dead and living Ebola victims and that the myriad of on-going public sensitisation on preventive methods is working in the rural communities.
"Since November 3, we have embarked on a number of (Ebola) containment measures including provision of safety gears to heath workers, stepping up disinfections at the medical facilities, ensuring safe burials and banning relatives from washing dead bodies of Ebola victims as well as limiting visitors to patients at Ebola treatment Isolation centers," he said. http://allafrica.com/stories/200712171508.html

[Treyfish]

Re: Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publ...andshake.shtml

[Treyfish]

Re: Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=485 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=menutitle height=18>News | December 18, 2007</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top height=30>Ebola still rife, says Ministry
Tabu Butagira & Hussein Bogere
KAMPALA
THE Ministry of Health has warned Ugandans to strictly observe the precautionary measures on Ebola to avoid contracting the deadly heamorrhagic fever.

By yesterday afternoon ? and for the third day running ? no new Ebola case was registered at any of the medical facilities in Bundibugyo District; the epicentre of the epidemic.

Dr Sam Okware, the chairman of the national Ebola taskforce however said whereas the pause in new infections signals a positive trend, the public should nevertheless remain vigilant and promptly report any suspected Ebola cases to health workers.

?We still have a long way to go in wiping out the epidemic,? Dr Okware said in an interview yesterday.

The Ministry of Health and a myriad of health NGOs and other humanitarian agencies have piled medical l ogistics and personnel in the rocky Bundibugyo District in a robust move to stem further spread of the disease that, according to official statistics,has claimed 35 lives out of 124 infected people.

In an update issued yesterday afternoon, Dr Sam Zaramba, the Director General of health services said a total of 34 people have been discharged from Bundibugyo Hospital and Kikyo Health Centre IV since November 27; a stunning high recovery for patients of a highly infectious disease like Ebola.

This is why epidemiologists say the new strain of Ebola ravaging the country could be a milder one compared to the known sub types of Ebola.


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http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Ebola_still_rife_says_Ministry.shtml

[Treyfish]

Re: Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Uganda: Zaramba Clears Games Over Ebola Scare

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New Vision (Kampala)
15 December 2007
Posted to the web 17 December 2007
Norman Katende
Kampala
THE Health ministry has given the university games a go ahead, saying there is no risk of Ebola. The week-long games start today with the arrival of over 1625 participants Makerere University.
A letter written by Dr. Sam Zaramba the director general of health services on December 10, pointed out that there was no health risk in holding the games.
"Ebola is currently limited to Bundibugyo district in Western Uganda and surveillance and alert cases so far have shown that there is no Ebola in Kampala. In addition, Ebola is not transmitted by air but by getting into contact with the body fluids of only sick people and not those without symptoms," read part of the letter.
"As such the games will cause no additional special risk. We therefore advise you to go ahead and host the games as planned. Please ensure that any one who develops fever or bloody diarrhoea during the games should be reported immediately to the nearest health unit." http://allafrica.com/stories/200712170933.html
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[Treyfish]

Re: Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Isolation ward set up to handle Ebola cases

<SMALL>Written By:Lillian mwendo , Posted: Sat, Dec 15, 2007</SMALL>


A new system of self-examination for any Ebola symptoms to those suspecting to have acquired the virus following the Ebola outbreak in western Uganda has been introduced in the country.
The ministry of health has also set up an isolation ward at the Kenyatta National Hospital ready to handle any suspected cases.
A new system for examining any Ebola symptoms is also in place.
This follows the death of 28 people from the 130 Ebola victims in western Uganda, although reports indicate that the Ugandan government has contained the Ebola outbreak at the western part of the country.
This is after the Kenya Medical Research Institute -Kemri was mandated ato be the sole recipient of samples of any suspected cases of Ebola.
Director of Medical Services Dr James Nyikal said that Kemri has the capacity to diagnose any form of haemorrhagic fever including the dreaded Ebola.
In a statement to media houses, Nyikal said the government has reactivated its surveillance systems countrywide to detect and respond to any possible threat.
A rapid response team was also established at the Ministry headquarters to support any districts that might report suspected cases of Ebola.
Nyikal however maintained that the public are free to travel to and from Uganda.
Over 350 people in Bundibugyo and Kasese districts of Uganda who had contact with Ebola victims have been quarantined in their homes for monitoring.
Since August when the killer disease broke out, ninety-three people, have been infected while 24 have already succumbed to the deadly fever.
Nyikal advised those traveling to Uganda to ensure that they avoid any contact with Ebola patients or their body fluids, including needles or medical waste.
They should also avoid contact with wild animals or consuming bush meat.
They should report to the nearest health facility any person with symptoms suggestive of malaria or typhoid if they have visited the Western parts of Uganda or the DRC.

http://www.kbc.co.ke/story.asp?ID=47129

[Treyfish]

Re: Ebola in Uganda Spreading - Death toll rising

Kenya: Ebola - Border With Uganda to Remain Open

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The Nation (Nairobi)
16 December 2007
Posted to the web 17 December 2007
Jeff Otieno
Nairobi
The government has ruled out closing the Kenya-Uganda border following an outbreak of the deadly Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the neighbouring country.
Speaking to the Sunday Nation, the Ministry of Health's chief medical officer, Dr Shahnaaz Sharif, said the spread of the fever was now under control in Uganda.
So far, 32 people, including medical personnel, have died in the outbreak that hit Bundibugyo district in western Uganda. Dr Sharif said tests carried out in eight Ugandan districts on blood samples suspected to be infected with the virus were negative, proof that the disease was now under control.
"It means that Ebola is so far restricted to one district which means the control measures in place are succeeding in checking the spread," he said.
The medical officer said the Kenya Government had sent a team of five doctors to study the outbreak. It teamed up with medical personnel from other parts of the world who went to Uganda to help control the spread.
"Two of the doctors are expected in the country today (yesterday)," said Dr Sharif.
He said the government will continue to screen travellers coming from Uganda until the fever is completely brought under control in Bundibugyo district.
The response unit at the Kenya-Uganda border includes public health officers, nurses, laboratory technologists and clinical officers. "We continue to screen travellers by taking details of where they come from, where they are going and how long they are going to stay in the country," said Dr Sharif.
The details, he said, are important in tracing suspected persons if the fever were detected in the country.
However, he asked Kenyans not to panic, saying everything was under control.
The medical personnel at the border were doing a good job, Dr Sharif said.
He said a special ward had been set aside at the Busia District Hospital to deal with any Ebola case that might be detected from Uganda.
Another medical centre in Malaba, he said, was monitoring the disease trend.
Last week, the Busia medical officer of health, Dr Silas Ayunga, confirmed that medical personnel had been stationed on the Uganda border to screen people entering the country.
By last week the team had screened more than 200 people from Uganda. President Yoweri Museveni has ordered an investigation into the origin of the latest Ebola outbreak which sent the country into a panic.
The directive came following conflicting reports that the first persons to contract the haemorrhagic fever ate a monkey and not a dead goat as had earlier been reported by medical investigators.
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Epidemiological experts are baffled by the actual host of the virus that causes Ebola, but scientific inquiries since 1976 -- the first time the lethal subtypes of Ebola Sudan and Ebola Zaire were discovered -- have concluded that monkeys could be the agents that transmit the virulent disease.
Ebola is one of the most virulent viral diseases known to man and results in death in 50 to 90 per cent of all clinically ill patients.
It can be transmitted by direct contact with infected blood, body fluids and tissues of infected persons. http://allafrica.com/stories/200712171058.html
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[sharon sanders]

Re: Ebola in Uganda

Please reply to new Ebola thread:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45630