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YELLOW FEVER - AFRICA (12): UGANDA (NORTH)
Date: Thu 27 Jan 2011
Source: Allvoices [edited]Health officials in Uganda have launched a yellow fever [YF] vaccination drive in the north where an outbreak of the disease has caused 53 deaths and 224 infections in 10 districts since late 2010. Almost a million people are expected to be vaccinated in the campaign, launched by Health Minister Richard Nduhura on 23 Jan [2011]. The outbreak of yellow fever last year [2010] was so mysterious because the disease was first thought to be [an] Ebola[virus infection] and then pneumonic plague, and then later on it was identified by the Ministry of Health as yellow fever.
The disease first hit Abim and Agago districts, but later on spread to Kitgum and other 10 districts in northern Uganda. Nathan Kenya-Mugisha, the acting Director General of Health Services and experts from the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control positively confirmed the disease. A total of 174 people have been affected by yellow fever. Of these, 45 people died in 10 districts of Northern Uganda that include Abim, Lamwo, Kitgum, Pader, Gulu, Arua, Kaabong, Nebbi, Agago, and Lira districts.
Yellow fever, which had not been seen in Uganda for about 40 years, has claimed the lives of 48 individuals in the north of the country, sending 187 others to hospital.
Doctors and local leaders in northern Uganda worked tirelessly to find the true cause and prevent the spread of the unknown disease at the time. Radio announcements and other means of sensitization were used by the government of Uganda and the World Health Organization. Residents were advised that anybody who presents suffering high fevers, muscle and back pain, headache, shivering, loss of appetite abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, should report to the nearest health facility for treatment.
Meanwhile, the ministry of health has also disclosed plans to carry out yellow fever vaccination in northern Uganda. The plans for the vaccination came out because of the many deaths and continued spread of infections in the districts of Kitgum, Abim, Agago, Lamwo, Pader, Gulu, Arua, and Kaabong.
All foreign diplomatic services are advising their citizens to avoid traveling to northern Uganda unless vaccinated. And today [27 Jan 2011], as the vaccination is going on, local leaders say they fear there may not be sufficient medicine as people are coming from far and wide.
John Bosco Ogwok, Kitgum district local council chairman, said they were vaccinating people from the neighboring country, Sudan, who were coming for the exercise. Vaccination points, Ogwok said, especially those near the border with Southern Sudan, have registered large numbers of Sudanese, while Ugandans from neighboring districts such as Gulu and Lira have also turned up for vaccination. Grace Ogwang, a nursing officer in Kitgum district coordinating outpost vaccination points, said that health officials were vaccinating everyone who turned up. "Our ethics in the practice of medicine is non-discrimination; whether you are from Kitgum or not, we don't discriminate," Ogwang said. "We are vaccinating everybody coming to the vaccination point, so long as you are above 6 months of age."
Kitgum is one of the 5 districts where the 1st phase of vaccination is taking place in northern Uganda. The others are Pader, Lamwo, Agago, and Abim. Health Minister Nduhura said the remaining districts in the north would begin the programme during a 2nd phase whose start date depended on resolving funding issues.
In Africa, World Health Organization [WHO] estimates 508 million people in 32 countries (including Uganda) are at risk. The number of yellow fever cases has increased over the past 2 decades due to declining population immunity to infection, deforestation, urbanization, population movements, and climate change.
In the case of Uganda, the genomic sequencing of the virus strain responsible for the current yellow fever outbreak is 98 percent identical to the East African Couma-Ethiopia genotype, according to a WHO brief. This is an indication that the virus has been circulating in the region.
Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan reported yellow fever outbreaks in 1992-1993. A recent outbreak occurred in Sudan in 2003.
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