Luweero Ebola victim frequented forest
May 16, 2011
THE mother of the 12-year-old girl who died of Ebola has told health workers that she and her daughter used to go to the forest to cultivate the family gardens and gather firewood.
By Raymond Baguma
THE mother of the 12-year-old girl who died of Ebola has told health workers that she and her daughter used to go to the forest to cultivate the family gardens and gather firewood.
The mother is now among the group of people being monitored from their homes for symptoms of Ebola, according to the Luwero medical officer, Dr. Joseph Okware.
Other people who got into contact with the girl have also been advised to avoid sex, hosting visitors or visiting, mass gatherings and using public transport.
Okware declined to disclose the identities of the confined people and their physical addresses for ethical reasons.
He, however, said the village in Zirobwe sub-county where the deceased lived has over 40 homesteads.
Okware said a meeting would be held to discuss how the confined people will be supported. He also disclosed that medical follow-ups will be done from their homes.
“We have agreed that they are confined to their homes for the next 21 days,†he said.
Okware added that a quarantine would be imposed if more people showed signs of infection.
The commissioner for community health, Dr. Anthony Mbonye, said experts investigating the source of the disease had taken the mother’s statement into account.
“We are following it up because monkeys are one of the disease carriers. The disease spreads from wild animals to humans. We have gone to the community and we are studying their water and firewood collecting habits,†he said.
He, however, said they had not reached a conclusion and did want to spread information that would alarm the community.
Mbonye also said the health ministry was working with public health experts, wildlife conservationists, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF.
The virus reported in Luwero is known as Ebola-Sudan, which has a 50-60% fatality rate.
The disease presents with fever, joint and muscle pains, headache, dry throat, diarrhoea, rash, kidney failure, internal and external bleeding.
According to the WHO, about 1,850 cases and 1,200 deaths have occurred since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976.
In Uganda, the first Ebola outbreak was in October 2000 in Gulu where 170 people died. In November 2007, another Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo killed 37.
THE mother of the 12-year-old girl who died of Ebola has told health workers that she and her daughter used to go to the forest to cultivate the family gardens and gather firewood.
The mother is now among the group of people being monitored from their homes for symptoms of Ebola, according to the Luwero medical officer, Dr. Joseph Okware.
Other people who got into contact with the girl have also been advised to avoid sex, hosting visitors or visiting, mass gatherings and using public transport.
Okware declined to disclose the identities of the confined people and their physical addresses for ethical reasons.
He, however, said the village in Zirobwe sub-county where the deceased lived has over 40 homesteads.
Okware said a meeting would be held to discuss how the confined people will be supported. He also disclosed that medical follow-ups will be done from their homes.
“We have agreed that they are confined to their homes for the next 21 days,†he said.
Okware added that a quarantine would be imposed if more people showed signs of infection.
The commissioner for community health, Dr. Anthony Mbonye, said experts investigating the source of the disease had taken the mother’s statement into account.
“We are following it up because monkeys are one of the disease carriers. The disease spreads from wild animals to humans. We have gone to the community and we are studying their water and firewood collecting habits,†he said.
He, however, said they had not reached a conclusion and did want to spread information that would alarm the community.
Mbonye also said the health ministry was working with public health experts, wildlife conservationists, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF.
The virus reported in Luwero is known as Ebola-Sudan, which has a 50-60% fatality rate.
The disease presents with fever, joint and muscle pains, headache, dry throat, diarrhoea, rash, kidney failure, internal and external bleeding.
According to the WHO, about 1,850 cases and 1,200 deaths have occurred since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976.
In Uganda, the first Ebola outbreak was in October 2000 in Gulu where 170 people died. In November 2007, another Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo killed 37.