Over 150 wild animals killed in anthrax outbreak

The Uganda Wildlife Authority has registered over 150 deaths of wild animals due to anthrax at Queen Elizabeth National park this year.

Sam Mwandha, the executive director, Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) said the majority of the animals which died from anthrax include, hippos, buffalos, bush pigs among other species of wildlife.

To ensure that anthrax does not get out of control and end up in humans, Mwandha said: "early this year, when we saw the strange death of wild species in the park, we informed the Ministry of Agriculture in order to carry out tests and also inform the neighbouring communities to desist from eating any dead animal they find."

Since it is difficult to see the signs of anthrax, Mwandha revealed that by the time they saw the animals, they were already on the verge of death since blood was oozing out of the eyes, nostrils, and other parts of the body.

Mwandha made the remarks during the World One Health Day celebrations held at Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala last week.

Musa Sekamatte, health ministry epidemiologist as well as National One Health Platform coordinator, said One Health works within governments to build resilience and sustainable systems to prevent and respond to zoonotic diseases and also address antimicrobial resistance and biosecurity.

To ensure that the spores in the water and the environment don't end up in other livestock, Mwandha noted: "We pick the carcass on a daily basis, dig a deep pit, bury the dead animal under and then put lime on top to kill the spores of anthrax."

According to Mwandha, this year, they had fewer deaths compared to previous episodes. In 2004, UWA lost over 2000 animals.

Anthrax is a bacterial disease that can cross from livestock when human beings eat half-cooked meat. Humans can become infected through direct or indirect contact with sick animals.

"We need to work with the Ministry of Health to ensure relevant agro awareness to the communities.  If there is an infection among the communities, people are quickly isolated so that they don't transmit the disease to others," requested Mwandha.

Dr John Opolot, assistant commissioner, Veterinary Health and Zoonosis Department of integrated Epidemiology surveillance in the health ministry said this year's annual health day draws the attention of the global community to the need for the one health approach to address threats at the humans, livestock, wildlife, and the environment interface.

According to Opolot, Uganda has been undertaken as a hotspot country since many outbreaks that have occurred need a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach to handle.

Since almost 60% of the diseases that affect humans are from animals, Opolot said that according to the national action plan for health security after the joint external evaluation was done, there was a requirement suggesting to prioritise and handle rampant zoonotic diseases.

Among the zoonotic diseases to be prioritised include, anthrax, rabies, plague, and brucellosis, haemorrhagic fevers like Ebola, Marburg, and bird flu.

"When human beings get infected from zoonotic diseases, many people will die if not attended to early. In fact, it is vital to control such diseases early because some people who recover at least end up with some abnormalities, impairment, and lameness," explained Opolot.

During outbreaks, Opolot requested the government to provide resources for treatment, quarantine, and survival to collect, analyse, and interpret, disseminate the data to useful information for future planning.

To address the complex challenge emergencies, Sekamatte also asked the government to support the establishment of the National One Health structure so that it is able to fund the structure as established in 2016.

COVID-19

On the issue of COVID-19, Dr Monica Musenero, senior presidential advisor on epidemics said they are soon starting their clinical trial of a local drug they developed. Besides that, they are also starting to produce their own diagnostic kits which will make diagnostics more widely available.

"We are processing permission with the National Council of Science and Technology to work on a local treatment. If it works, it will be a big step to reduce the number of deaths that we are seeing," Musenero explained.

Since the kits are very expensive, Musenero said they had to rationalise the use by not testing everybody. Currently, they are working on vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments. Besides that, they are also working on identifying a widely available source of vitamin D which can be available to the population in a short time.

"We are doing research on vitamin D.  We realized that if it is low in your body, you can't fight COVID-19 very well. So, we are doing a rapid assessment to see how vitamin D is in the population and especially for the vulnerable." Musenero stated.