Writes leo Odera Omolo
The East African region was last week scared and left in the mood of double checking safety controls as fears spread that an outbreak of the rare and deadly Ebola virus reported in Uganda could spread to other neighboring countries.
The scar which spread like bush fire came after what is suspected to be Ebola killed a Ugandan girl in Luwero area near the capital, Kampala.
Health officials said the case from Luwero district, which is located only 75 kilometers north west of Ugandan capital, Kampala was the first outbreak of the virus in four years, leaving the region in fear of a repeat of re-endemic threat in past years.
“Laboratory investigations are said to have confirmed Ebola to be the primary cause of the illness and death. So far there is one case reported, but we expect others cases,” said Antony Mbonye, the Ugandan government’s commissioner for the Community Health.
Health officials are keenly following up and observing 33 people who were in contact with the deceased girl,” Mbonye said.
It is the third time Uganda is hit by the epidemic following 2000 and 2007 outbreaks and the closest it has been reported near the capital City. The last time Uganda was hit by Ebola – a deadly disease in which those affected often bleed t death – it killed 37 people.
Rwanda and Kenya are some of the Uganda’s immediate neighbors which have so far confirmed they already on alert.
Rwandan official in Kigali held an emergency meeting last week with the health minister reported as saying there was adequate equipments to deal with the deadly Ebola virus in the event of an outbreak.” We have internationally approved materials that will enable us to handle the situation,” Dr Agnes Binagwaho.
On it part, Kenya announced that it had directed its immigration officials and health center situated along the Kenya-Uganda border to take precaution following an alert by the American Center for Disease Control according to Public Health Director, Sharif Shahnas.
In 2000 and 200, Kenya set up screening centers along its borders with Uganda following an outbreak of the virus that killed at least 170 people in Uganda’s northern Gulu district and 37 more in Bundiguywo in Western Uganda in the respective years.
In 2007, DRC Congo health authorities closed the lake and land border with Uganda and shut down two markets situated along the border of the two countries as precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the disease from its neighbor. DRC Congo experienced Ebola epidemics in 1976, 1995, 1999, 2007 and 2009.
In 2007, The Permanent Secretary in the Tanzanian Ministry of Health, Wilson Mukama warned that villages bordering Uganda were at great risk of contracting the epidemic prompting the government to dispatch medical teams to regions of Kagera Mwanza and Mara.
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