350 confined over Ebola outbreak
Dec 06, 2007
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 a
By Vision Reporters
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.
Kabarole
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.
Kabale
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.
(By Anne Mugisa, John B. Thawite, Bizimungu Kisakye, Colombus Tumusiime, Dennis Ojwee, Bwogi Buyera)
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.
Kabarole
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.
Kabale
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.
(By Anne Mugisa, John B. Thawite, Bizimungu Kisakye, Colombus Tumusiime, Dennis Ojwee, Bwogi Buyera)