A total of twenty three confirmed and suspected Ebola deaths have been recorded in Uganda, barely a week after the disease broke out.
As of Monday, September 26, the country’s Health Ministry confirmed 31 suspected cases, a drastic increase from the seven cases that were registered on Tuesday, when the outbreak was confirmed.
According to Uganda’s Ebola incident commander, Dr Henry Kyobe, who also doubles as deputy director of the Uganda National Institute of Public Health in the Health ministry, together with Dr Issa Makumbi, who is director of the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, have urged communities mostly affected to cooperate with health workers to keep from further spreading the virus.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan government is working towards preventing the the possibility of the virus spreading from Uganda and into the country.
Busia Deputy Governor Arthur Odera, stated that Kenya stands a high risk of being exposed to the virus due to border proximity, adding that steps were being taken to avert any unfavourable situations.
“We’re at risk of being infected because of our proximity to the border, but we’re working closely with the national government to [ensure] all porous routes are being closely monitored by security officials to prevent the possibility of infected persons getting into the country illegally,” he said.
A consultant pathologist, Dr Ahmed Kalebi, explains further:
“The Ebola outbreak in the central region of Uganda poses the biggest threat to Kenya unlike any other we’ve ever faced in the past. This is because the strain called the Sudan Ebola virus is new and unconnected to any other outbreak. It seems to be from a forest in Uganda.
“Case fatality rate for Sudan Ebola species is, on average, 40 per cent to 60 per cent and ranges from 25 per cent to 90 per cent. The case fatality rate for Covid-19 was below 1 per cent in Kenya. The central region of Uganda is densely populated and the area affected is on a transport corridor, meaning that it can easily and rapidly spread within and outside Uganda.”
Dr. Kalebi maintains that the only way to prevent the disease from spreading into Kenya is intense screening of persons coming into the country, especially from Uganda.
“The standard temperature screening is important for Ebola and intense massive public awareness is needed, especially at the border so that people can be vigilant. Also, bear in mind that Ebola can’t be tested like other common viruses as it needs a highly specialised laboratory with stringent biosafety facilities.
“Ebola patients can’t be managed in normal hospitals as it needs highly specialised infection management units to protect the health workers.
“The other very important thing in the Ebola public health response at the border is to have robust records of all those who are travelling, where they are coming from, where they have been, where they are going, and their physical address plus contact details. This will help in contact tracing in case a case is detected,” he explains.
The Ebola outbreak in Uganda was confirmed on Tuesday, and one person was confirmed to have died from the disease.
Ebola can be virus can be contacted mostly through human physical contact, World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals.
Symptoms include extreme fever, vomiting, stooling (diarrhoea), bleeding, soar throat, and a host of others signs.
