Ebola outbreak in Uganda

[bacpacker]

I just ran across a couple of news articles about this. Here is a couple of them.


htthttp://abcnews.go.com/Health/wire...KWUv2eVO9sp://

Scores of Ugandans were isolated on Thursday to prevent the spread of a new outbreak of Ebola which has already killed three people.

Uganda has experienced increasingly regular outbreaks of deadly hemorrhagic fevers that have left health officials grappling for answers.

The new Ebola outbreak was confirmed Wednesday in a district 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the Ugandan capital, Kampala. The outbreak comes roughly a month after Uganda declared itself Ebola-free following an earlier outbreak in a remote district of western Uganda. Last month at least five people in a southwestern district of Uganda were killed by Marburg, a hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola.

The latest Ebola outbreak, officials say, is of the Sudan strain of Ebola and not linked to the previous one, of the Congo variety, which killed at least 16 villagers in July and August in the western district of Kibaale. In addition to the three dead in the latest outbreak, up to 15 are being monitored for signs of the disease, officials said. They advised against panic after it was revealed that two possible Ebola patients had since checked into Kampala's main referral hospital.

"The Ministry of Health once again calls upon the public to stay calm as all possible measures are being undertaken to control the situation," Christine Ondoa, Uganda's minister of health, said.
Ebola Outbreak in Uganda Watch Video
Ebola Virus in Uganda: At Least 17 Dead Watch Video
Ebola Outbreak: Deadly Virus Spreads in Uganda Watch Video

Ebola is especially feared in Uganda, where multiple outbreaks have occurred over the years, and news of it can cause patients to flee hospitals to avoid infection. In 2000, in one of the world's worst Ebola outbreaks, the disease infected 425 Ugandans and killed more than half of them in the country's north. Another outbreak in 2007 killed 37 people in Bundibugyo, a remote district close to the Congolese border.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20338014

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A fresh outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Uganda has killed at least two people, the health minister has said.

Christine Ondoa said two members of the same family died over the weekend not far from the capital - and a third person was also suspected to have died in that area of the haemorrhagic fever.

An estimated 17 people died in western Uganda during an outbreak in July.

According to the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), there had been no cases since August.
'Avoid gatherings'

Dr Ondoa said that investigators had found conclusive evidence of Ebola in Luweero, about 60km (37 miles) from the capital, Kampala.

A third man had also died in the area late last month after showing symptoms of Ebola however no samples were taken from the victim and the case was not reported to health officials at the times, she said.

Five people who came into contact with those who died are being monitored. Two of them have been admitted to an isolation unit at Kampala's main Mulago hospital, the minister said.
Map

There is no known cure for Ebola, but patients can be treated for their symptoms with antibiotics, drugs for pain relief and for other diseases such as malaria, to strengthen their resistance.

The virus causes death in 90% of human cases.

Dr Ondoa said the disease is "very infectious" and kills "in a short time", but is "easily" preventable.

Among precautionary measures she urged people to take were:

Avoid public gatherings, including funerals, in affected districts
Bury victims immediately under the supervision of health officials
Avoid direct contact with body fluids of Ebola patients by using gloves and masks
Disinfect the bedding and clothing of an infected person and
Avoid eating dead animals, especially monkeys.

Uganda has seen several major Ebola outbreaks over the past 12 years.

The deadliest was in 2000 when 425 people were infected. More than half of them died.

The BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga in Kampala says many Ugandans are wondering why the country is so prone to Ebola outbreaks.

The government has said it is because its systems are getting better at detecting them.

[Twitchy]

the morbidly good thing about ebola is that it kills so quickly, and so effectively, its unlikely to go pandemic at its current evolution. however, if it is weaponized, or carried over by an aircraft to a large city, good god that would be bad...

[Daca102090]

My daughter has been living in the southwest corner of Uganda for the last 4 years. Unfortunately this outbreak has been going on for 4 plus months now.
Unfortunately it is far more contagious than you might think. They have had hospital workers become infected from stealing and using a cell phone from infected patients. No direct contact, just swiped the phone from the property box. Fairly simple physical contact is enough to spread the infection. When someone sick shows up at the hospital , they have been traveling for several hours to a couple of days on common carrier busses with symptoms that resemble influenza. Unfortunately if there are symptoms they are fully contagious.
When the diagnosis is made in the hospital other patients and staff tend to abandon the area and head home, which could be 100 plus miles out into the countryside. If they have been exposed they are then carriers and spread the disease further.
Unfortunately most of the native peoples are not very educated, fairly superstitious and the Ugandan government is not even trying to inform the populace, as a result some of the residents of smaller villages have moved to the larger cities thinking that they will be safer there when isolation is best until this can burn itself out.
Easier to identify recent arrivals or those who have recently traveled when you known or are related to everyone else within 5 mmiles.

[ladyhk13]

^And you aren't sending her a one way plane ticket to come home???? I would be screaming until she got sick of hearing my voice and came home just to shut me up. That is some really bad stuff. I hope she is staying very safe.

[Daca102090]

Yeah, if you ever find a way to MAKE a 28 year old child of yours do anything that isn't their idea PLEEEASE let me know.
She has two children overthere with her and that is absolutely not an area I want my grandchildren to be growing up in.
A lot of worry and anguish on a constant basis over the entire situation.

[ladyhk13]

Uhmmmm...cutting her out of your will....threaten to file for custody due to dangers to the children - she can thank you later (yeah, I know not a good idea but they would be alive). No good answers there. That really stinks. So sorry. I hope she will come home soon though.

[izzyscout21]

how widespread does it have to be or how fast can something like that spread to over here?

[bacpacker]

I don't know much about it other than it seems to be airborne. I would assume from that ( we all know where assumptions lead) that 1 or 2 infected carriers flying in could spread it to the folks on the plane, then it goes out from there. I hope I am totally wrong about that.

[Baker]

Is it ironic that I'm watching After Armageddon (the whole influenza tv movie/docudrama thing) right now?

[Daca102090]

I don't know much about it other than it seems to be airborne. I would assume from that ( we all know where assumptions lead) that 1 or 2 infected carriers flying in could spread it to the folks on the plane, then it goes out from there. I hope I am totally wrong about that.

Not so much airborne as the spittle that is expelled during a hard cough.
The vector is bodily fluids, blood, saliva and and discharges.
Right now most of the countries around Uganda are keeping the formal border crossings fairly tightly controlled, but with the jungles and rivers that doesn't mean much.
I think it takes a few days before symptoms show, so yeah, it is possible to get an infected person who has not yet developed symptoms to try to travel as fast and far as possible and then develop the symtpoms and spread the infection.
Usually that type of person in this country will be poor and rural so will not have the means to gain air travel.