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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Marburg: 34 monitored, two isolated
Publish Date: Oct 23, 2012
By Pascal Kwesiga, Goodluck Musinguzi Violet Nabatanzi and Isaac Nuwagaba
Thirty-four people who are suspected to have had contact with the five killed by the deadly Marburg virus in Kabale district are being monitored by a team from the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation.
The ministry spokesperson, Rukia Nakamatte, on Monday said Obed Ntegyerize, a member of the deceased’s family and another man from Kamugangu sub-county are being treated at an isolation centre at Rushoroza Health Centre III in Kabale. This was after they tested positive for the virus that causes heamoregic fever.
Nakamatte explained that another team had been dispatched to Rukungiri district to monitor and trace people who are suspected to have had contact with Ntegyerize. Ntegyerize was found in a church in Rukungiri.
The 32-year-old Ntegyerize, who was under the illusion that his five family members in Kiyonjo parish in Kitumba sub-county had been killed by witchcraft, fled to Rukungiri to be prayed for.
Meanwhile, the district leadership has temporarily stopped leaders of the church where Ntegerize was found from conducting services.
Nakamatte said the 34 people, who include children, teachers and religious leaders, would be monitored from their homes on a daily basis.
She added that these people had not been quarantined at their homes, but been advised to report to health officials in case they developed symptoms of the disease.
She said the Red Cross and World Health Organisation had provided mattresses and personal protective gears for medical officers manning the isolation centre.
Meanwhile, the woman who tested positive for Marburg remains in a stable condition in an isolation room at Mulago Hospital. She is related to the five people who succumbed to the disease in Kabale two weeks ago.
Mulago authorities are also monitoring one nurse and two doctors who handled Twinomujuni as she bled after she suffered a miscarriage. At the time, it was not known that she had contracted the Marburg disease.
Dr. Jane Aceng, the director general of health services, in a statement issued yesterday, urged the people to avoid public gatherings and direct contact with body fluids of people suffering from the highly infectious viral hemorrhagic fever.
She said apart from the experts who have been dispatched to the district to support both clinical and public health investigations, the national taskforce has reactivated its rapid response committees to handle any emergences.
Marburg disease that is caused by a virus, easily spreads through direct contact with wounds, body fluids like blood, saliva, vomitus, stool and urine of an infected person.
A person suffering from Marburg presents symptoms such as high fever, vomiting blood, joint and muscle pains and bleeding through the body openings like eyes, nose, gums, ears, anus and the skin.
It is a highly contagious disease that kills in a short time but can easily be prevented.
“The Ministry of Health calls upon the public to stay calm as all possible measures are being taken to control the situation.
“For more information and reports of any cases, please contact the ministry hotline on +256750996034,” Aceng added.
In Kabale, people remain in a state of panic. The district chairman, Patrick Besigye, said they have suspended a graduation ceremony at Kabale University that was slated to take place at the weekend and the district independence celebrations set for October 31.
District leaders in Kabale and the education ministry officials suspended all public functions in an effort to check the spread of the virus.
The meeting between the district leaders and the ministry officials held at Kabale district headquarters yesterday resolved that all gatherings in the district be called off and locals who had contacts with the victims of the disease be monitored for a minimum of nine days.
Besigye urged the population to abide by the health officials advice which discourages some of the burial rituals during the funerals of marburg victims
He cited the case of the residents of Rwabirondo village who on Sunday insisted that the health workers should not burn the mattresses which had been used by relatives who succumbed to the virus.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/6366...-isolated.html
Monday, October 22, 2012
Marburg cases rise to four
already 6
Tuesday, October 23 2012 at 01:00
KABALE/KAMPALA
Two more people suspected to be carrying the Marburg virus were yesterday admitted to Rushoroza Health centre III, bringing the number of those admitted to four.
Another 40 people are under surveillance, according to health officials in Kabale district where Marburg was first reported last week.
Two people; a child and an adult, were on Sunday admitted at Rushoroza Health Centre III where an isolation centre has been established. Yesterday, two more suspected cases were admitted at the centre.
One of the people admitted is Mr Obed Tutegyerize, a relative of the five people who have since died of the disease. Mr Tutegyereize was taking care of them at Kabale Referral Hospital but fled to Rukungiri for prayers after developing the same illness. Doctors on Sunday traced him from Bikurungu Village in Bwambara Sub-county in Rukungiri District, where he had gone to see a witch doctor.
The identities of the other three have not been revealed as doctors say they are waiting for results to confirm the tests. “Four people including a secondary school girl are currently admitted at the isolation centre and their blood samples have been taken to the Uganda Virus Research Institute for testing,” Dr Patrick Tusiime, the Kabale district health officer and the co-chair of the Marburg task force, said yesterday.
Holding activities
Meanwhile Kabale University has called off its graduation ceremony which was scheduled for this weekend after Marburg was reported in the district, the Vice Chancellor, Ms Joy Kwesiga, announced yesterday.
Meanwhile Kabale University has called off its graduation ceremony which was scheduled for this weekend after Marburg was reported in the district, the Vice Chancellor, Ms Joy Kwesiga, announced yesterday.
This follows warnings from health experts to the public to limit crowded gatherings.
In Kampala, Ms Sharon Twinomujuni, who was admitted to the hospital’s isolation camp on October 19 after she tested positive for Marburg is responding to treatment, according to hospital officials.
In Kampala, Ms Sharon Twinomujuni, who was admitted to the hospital’s isolation camp on October 19 after she tested positive for Marburg is responding to treatment, according to hospital officials.
Ms Twinomujuni is a relative of one of the five people who have already died from Marburg.
The commissioner for National disease control in the Ministry of Health, Dr Dennis Lwamafa, cautioned the public, especially in the affected area against movement saying this could further spread the disease, but also it could be hard to trace suspected cases.
The commissioner for National disease control in the Ministry of Health, Dr Dennis Lwamafa, cautioned the public, especially in the affected area against movement saying this could further spread the disease, but also it could be hard to trace suspected cases.
“One of the patients came from Kabale to Kampala and after a few days he travelled back to Rukungiri, although we have managed to trace him but he has expanded the transmission stretch,” Dr Lwamafa said.
UPDATE 1-Meningitis probe could hit hospital drug supplies - FDA
By Bill Berkrot
Oct 22 (Reuters) - The extended shutdown of a sister company of the pharmacy at the center of the deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak may exacerbate drug shortages for some hospitals and healthcare providers as the number of infection cases neared 300, U.S. health regulators said.
Ameridose, a drug manufacturer owned by the same people who own New England Compounding Center (NECC), has been closed since Oct. 10 and will remain shuttered until Nov. 5, while authorities complete an inspection of the plant as a precautionary measure - at least temporarily cutting off supplies to its customers.
NECC shipped thousands of potentially contaminated vials of a steroid used for injections to treat severe back pain. Some 14,000 patients may have been exposed to the medici http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/22/usa-health-meningitis-shortages-idUSL1E8LMK7N20121022?rpc=401
Tests confirm NY professor contracted hantavirus
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Lab tests have confirmed that a New York professor contracted the potentially deadly hantavirus during a hiking trip in the Adirondacks.
A spokeswoman for Stony Brook University on Long Island said Monday the results were confirmed late last week. Doctors suspected the university professor contracted the disease after an August camping trip.
Lab results confirming the diagnosis were s..
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP50025f0449824e5f848157b38937d672.html
Number of U.S. meningitis cases from tainted injections nears 300
3:41 p.m. EDT, October 22, 2012
(Reuters) - The number of U.S. cases of meningitis from tainted injections of a steroid medication reached 294, up 12 from a day earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday.
There were three other cases of joint infections from the steroid medication that have not resulted in meningitis cases, bringing the national total of infections to 297, according to the CDC.
There were no new deaths reported, leaving the total number of fatalities at 23, the CDC said. The number of cases has continued to mount despite recall of the product by New England Compounding Center. Meningitis cases have been identified in 16 states and deaths in seven states. http://www.courant.com/health/sns-rt-us-usa-health-meningitis-casesbre89l1bx-20121022,0,3406602.story?
Killer disease reaches Uganda capital, five dead
Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:19 GMT
Source: Reuters // Reuters
* Uganda last had Marburg outbreak in 2007
* Uganda declared itself free of Ebola early this month
By Elias Biryabarema
KAMPALA, Oct 22 (Reuters) - An outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in Uganda has spread to the capital Kampala after an infected woman travelled to the city and the death toll from the disease, a cousin of Ebola, climbed to five, a health official said on Monday.
The latest outbreak of another haemorrhagic fever, first confirmed on Friday in Kabale district, 430 km (270 miles) southwest of Kampala, has rattled a country that only two weeks ago declared itself free of Ebola after it claimed at least 16 lives.
There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the Marburg virus, also known as Marburg haemorrhagic fever, which is transmitted through bodily fluids such as saliva and blood, or by handling infected wild animals such as monkeys.
"We have one case confirmed in Mulago Hospital while the number of the dead is now five," Rukia Nakamatte, spokesperson for the ministry of health told Reuters on Monday.
"Thirty -four contacts (people are) being monitored and an isolation facility is being set up."
A health official told Reuters on Monday that the woman at Mulago, the country's largest referral hospital, had travelled to Kampala about five days ago and is a member of a family in Kabale which lost three people.
Health investigators have yet to determined the origin of the latest Marburg infection but Uganda's director general of health services, Dr. Ruth Aceng, said on Friday that outbreaks of haemorrhagic fevers in Uganda tend to occur between June and September.
This is the period when villagers who go into the wild to collect fruit are likely to come into contact with wild animals such as fruit bats, a natural vector for the Marbug virus.
Elly Matte, a police spokesperson in Kabale, said people were alarmed about the viral outbreak. "We... might impose a quarantine if the situation worsens," he said.
Ugandan Health officials, as preventative measures, have urged people to avoid public gatherings and bodily contact. The World Health Organization has deployed a team to the district to support the outbreak investigation and response.
The last outbreak of Marburg in Uganda was in 2007 and killed two miners in the west while the deadliest occurrence of haemorrhagic fever was in 2000 when 425 people contracted Ebola and more than half of them died.
Marburg, from the same family of viruses as Ebola, starts with a severe headache followed by haemorrhaging and, in previous outbreaks in Africa, to death in 80 percent or more of cases, usually within eight to nine days.
Although both viruses are highly contagious and have high case fatalities, Marburg has a shorter incubation period of 14 days, compared to Ebola's 21.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/k...tal-five-dead/
Source: Reuters // Reuters
* Uganda last had Marburg outbreak in 2007
* Uganda declared itself free of Ebola early this month
By Elias Biryabarema
KAMPALA, Oct 22 (Reuters) - An outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in Uganda has spread to the capital Kampala after an infected woman travelled to the city and the death toll from the disease, a cousin of Ebola, climbed to five, a health official said on Monday.
The latest outbreak of another haemorrhagic fever, first confirmed on Friday in Kabale district, 430 km (270 miles) southwest of Kampala, has rattled a country that only two weeks ago declared itself free of Ebola after it claimed at least 16 lives.
There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the Marburg virus, also known as Marburg haemorrhagic fever, which is transmitted through bodily fluids such as saliva and blood, or by handling infected wild animals such as monkeys.
"We have one case confirmed in Mulago Hospital while the number of the dead is now five," Rukia Nakamatte, spokesperson for the ministry of health told Reuters on Monday.
"Thirty -four contacts (people are) being monitored and an isolation facility is being set up."
A health official told Reuters on Monday that the woman at Mulago, the country's largest referral hospital, had travelled to Kampala about five days ago and is a member of a family in Kabale which lost three people.
Health investigators have yet to determined the origin of the latest Marburg infection but Uganda's director general of health services, Dr. Ruth Aceng, said on Friday that outbreaks of haemorrhagic fevers in Uganda tend to occur between June and September.
This is the period when villagers who go into the wild to collect fruit are likely to come into contact with wild animals such as fruit bats, a natural vector for the Marbug virus.
Elly Matte, a police spokesperson in Kabale, said people were alarmed about the viral outbreak. "We... might impose a quarantine if the situation worsens," he said.
Ugandan Health officials, as preventative measures, have urged people to avoid public gatherings and bodily contact. The World Health Organization has deployed a team to the district to support the outbreak investigation and response.
The last outbreak of Marburg in Uganda was in 2007 and killed two miners in the west while the deadliest occurrence of haemorrhagic fever was in 2000 when 425 people contracted Ebola and more than half of them died.
Marburg, from the same family of viruses as Ebola, starts with a severe headache followed by haemorrhaging and, in previous outbreaks in Africa, to death in 80 percent or more of cases, usually within eight to nine days.
Although both viruses are highly contagious and have high case fatalities, Marburg has a shorter incubation period of 14 days, compared to Ebola's 21.
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/k...tal-five-dead/
6th MARBURG suspect
6th MARBURG suspect
MARBURG UPDATE: Hospital officials say the Kabale woman admitted at Mulago after she showed signs of the deadly Marburg virus is in a ‘stable’ condition. Sharon Twinomujuni was first treated for malaria then diagnosed with the virus first got treatment from a private clinic in Kisugu, Kampala. Twinomujuni is related to the family of five who were first killed in Kabale as the first victims of the Marburg virus.
http://www.radiocity.ug/radiocity/
MARBURG UPDATE: Hospital officials say the Kabale woman admitted at Mulago after she showed signs of the deadly Marburg virus is in a ‘stable’ condition. Sharon Twinomujuni was first treated for malaria then diagnosed with the virus first got treatment from a private clinic in Kisugu, Kampala. Twinomujuni is related to the family of five who were first killed in Kabale as the first victims of the Marburg virus.
http://www.radiocity.ug/radiocity/
Marburg haemorrhagic fever in Uganda
21 OCTOBER 2012 - The Ministry of Health in Uganda has declared an outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in Kitumba sub-county, Kabale district in South-western Uganda.
Blood samples from 3 cases have tested positive for Marburg at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI). Investigation into the outbreak is ongoing.The Ministry of Health (MOH) is working closely with partners to control the outbreak.
The MOH and WHO have deployed a team to the district to support the outbreak investigation and response, including case contact tracing. The national and district taskforces have been reactivated.
WHO will provide support to the national authorities as needed in the areas of coordination, infection prevention and control (IPC), surveillance, epidemiology, public information and social mobilization, anthropological analysis and logistics for outbreak response.
With respect to this outbreak, WHO does not recommend that any travel or trade restrictions are applied to Uganda. http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_10_21/en/index.html
MARBURG: PUBLIC GATHERINGS BANNED IN KABALE
Authorities in Kabale have banned all public gatherings as the district moves to contain the outbreak of Marburg Virus. The deadly virus has so far claimed a total of 5 people, while 36 others are being monitored in their homes in the districts of Rukungiri and Kabale. http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=46760
..The belated celebrations of independence in Kabale district are likely to be suspended due to the breakdown of Marburg fever in the area.
..The belated celebrations of independence in Kabale district are likely to be suspended due to the breakdown of Marburg fever in the area.
The celebration has been scheduled next week at Kabale stadium.
Mbarara district MP Mederd Bitekyerezo says that the celebrations must be stopped to save people from getting affected from Marburg.
“Marburg is like Ebola.People should avoid being in crowd” Betekyerezo noted http://www.ugandapicks.com/2012/10/independence-celebrations-in-kabale-suspended-over-marburg-26164.html
Sunday, October 21, 2012
the body of Nathan Biryamubaho
Health workers carry the body of Nathan Biryamubaho, a Marburg virus victim, for burial in Kabale District at the weekend. The disease has killed five people. PHOTO BY Robert Muhereza
Two admitted with Marburg virus signs
Two admitted with Marburg virus signs
By Robert Muhereza
Posted Monday, October 22 2012 at 01:00 Kabale
Two people with signs of Marburg virus were admitted to a newly-relocated treatment centre for the disease yesterday.
The patients were taken to Rushoroza Health Centre III, two kilometres away on Kabale-Katuna road, to reduce congestion at Kabale Referral Hospital.
The district health officer, Dr Patrick Tusiime, at the weekend said the epidemic experts decided to relocate the emergency centre because the virus can easily be transmitted to other patients.
“The emergency ward is situated in the middle of the hospital and there is a scare of possible spread of the virus in this congested area,” Dr Tusiime said. Five people have so far died of Marburg virus in Kabale, creating fear among several residents in Kitumba Sub-county where the victims originate.
Five experts from the Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation and UPDF are handling the virus outbreak in the district under the coordination of Dr Joseph Wamala.
The team has organised drills for some health staff at Kabale hospital on how to handle the virus cases and protecting themselves against infection. Meanwhile, three people who died of Marburg virus have been buried in their respective villages under the strict supervision of the epidemic experts.
Barred from burial
Dr Tusiime said the relatives of the deceased were not allowed to attend the burial because they lacked protective gear. Nathan Biryamurabaho was buried at Hamuganda Village in Kitumba Sub-county on Saturday at 6:30pm. Boaz Turyahikayo, 28 and his sister Medrid Asasira, 26 were buried yesterday at Rwabirondo Village in Ndorwa West.
Dr Tusiime said the relatives of the deceased were not allowed to attend the burial because they lacked protective gear. Nathan Biryamurabaho was buried at Hamuganda Village in Kitumba Sub-county on Saturday at 6:30pm. Boaz Turyahikayo, 28 and his sister Medrid Asasira, 26 were buried yesterday at Rwabirondo Village in Ndorwa West.
The other two victims were buried earlier by their relatives. Samples were taken from their bodies and tested positive for Marburg. Biryamubaho’s body was found at his home village in Hamuganda because his relatives sneaked it out of the isolation centre at Kabale hospital after health workers abandoned them.
Dr Tusiime warned the deceased’s relatives against travelling outside their village to avoid transmiting the virus in case they are infected. “The relatives who got in contact with the bodies of the deceased must not attend crowded places like churches, schools and markets until 21 days of surveillance are over. We are working with the epidemic experts to trace other health workers who handled the deceased so that they are closely monitored,” Dr Tusiime said.
Ndorwa West MP David Bahati said he was working with the Ministry of Health and district officials to ensure that they prevent further deaths, especially among those that taking care for the deceased. http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Two+admitted+with+Marburg+virus+signs/-/688334/1538790/-/w3ywh6/-/index.html
From Ebola to Marburg: rare virus rocks Uganda
The deadly Marburg haemorrhagic fever in the southwestern Ugandan district of Kabale claimed a fifth life from the same family at the weekend.
Dr Patrick Tusiime, the Kabale district health officer, told The Observer that the fifth victim died on Saturday morning and was quickly buried by a team of health officials to avert the spread of the disease. The Uganda Virus Research Institute and the ministry of Health confirmed the outbreak of the Marburg virus in Rwabihondo village, Kitumba parish, Ndorwa West constituency, on Friday.
The victims include Boaz Turyahikayo, a lecturer at Uganda Christian University and his sister, Mildred Ansasiire, a primary school teacher.
“We have restricted family members from moving out to avoid spreading the disease,” Dr Tusiime explained, adding that the family members would be confined in their home from where they would be monitored for 9-10 days... http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21675%3Afrom-ebola-to-marburg-rare-virus-rocks-uganda&catid=34%3Anews&Itemid=114
The Ebola epidemic is under control in the Haut-Uele, according to the Minister of Public Health
Kinshasa, 18/10 / (ACP). - The outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever officially declared August 17, 2012 in the areas of health and Isiro Viadana in the district of Haut-Uele in Orientale Province, is currently under control, said Wednesday in Kinshasa, during a press briefing, the Minister of Health, Dr. Felix Kabange Numbi.
The Minister of Health said that only two cases have been reported in the past three weeks, September 29 and October 11, 2012 and the cumulative number of 77 cases including 36 deaths since the beginning of the epidemic.Nearly 800 people have been in contact with patients have been followed, the minister added stressing that investigations on the ground indicate that the epidemic had started in March 2012 and not in May 2012 as previously announced. http://www.acpcongo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12767:lepidemie-d-ebola-est-sous-controle-dans-le-haut-uele-selon-le-ministre-de-la-sante-publique&catid=41:sante&Itemid=62
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Refugees from Congo suspected to have brought Marburg to Uganda
UGANDA (eTN) - According to emerging reports from Southwestern Uganda, there is increasing suspicion of an outbreak of the deadly Marburg fever, and affected individuals have been tested and put into a full quarantine. A team of health officials is on the ground, assisted reportedly by security personnel, combing areas where refugees have sought shelter to identify anyone displaying symptoms in line with the early signs of the disease.
Only two weeks ago, Uganda was declared Ebola free, after an outbreak, also suspected to have been brought into Uganda from the Eastern Congo, which took a toll on patients and health workers. Marburg falls into the same category of virus diseases as Ebola, and while less virulent, is still known to be a killer disease with a high percentage of casualties.
Diseases in Congo’s rain forests are common but normally contained within a small radius of one or two communities, but with the lack of health care structures in that part of the Congo, where at the moment intense fighting is going on, it makes refugees often the main carriers to bring such disease across the border into Uganda, where a much better-equipped health care infrastructure is then compelled to deal with the unwanted "imports."
The local media in Kampala is now starting to pick up on the news, which almost inevitably started to emerge on Twitter as individuals on the ground sent messages out, which where then picked up and retweeted.
The outbreak comes on the day prior to Uganda’s National Bird Watching contest, with the opening ceremony taking place this afternoon at the Uganda Museum in Kampala from where the participating teams were to leave for their chosen locations upcountry and in the national parks.
A full statement is expected later today from the Ministry of Health, but the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe has reportedly confirmed that it is Marburg, prompting widespread containment measures now unfolding around the affected areas between Kabale and Kisoro.
17 quarantined over Marburg virus
Publish Date: Oct 21, 2012
By Robert Mwesigye
Seventeen people have so far been quarantined over the Marburg Virus in Kabale District.
Ministry of health spokesperson Rukia Nakamatte said though no other person has shown signs and symptoms of the deadly virus, they have quarantined seventeen people.
She said they will monitor the seventeen until the expected gestation period of the virus to ensure they are not infected.
The seventeen are mainly patients and workers at Kabale regional referral hospital.
So far five deaths have been confirmed by the ministry due to the virus that caused panic in the districts of Kabale and Rukungiri where one person, Obed Tegyereize, had travelled reportedly to seek help from pastors.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/6366...rg-virus.html?
Rwanda: Health Ministry Warns on Marburg Fever
21 OCTOBER 2012
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has called on the public to immediately report any signs or suspected cases of Marburg hemorrhagic fever, as steps are taken to prevent the deadly virus.
The warning comes at a time when an outbreak of the deadly virus has been confirmed in neighbouring Uganda. On Friday, Uganda's Health Ministry confirmed the highly infectious viral hemorrhagic fever in Kitumba Sub-county, Kabale District in South-Western Uganda.
"Following reported outbreaks of the deadly Marburg hemorrhagic fever in neighbouring Uganda, the Ministry of Health is cautioning the public to remain vigilant as the government steps up measures of preventing in-flow of the deadly virus into Rwanda," reads the warning, a copy of which The Sunday Times has received.
By Saturday, the deadly virus had claimed four people from the same family in Kabale.
Marburg hemorrhagic fever is a highly contagious disease transmitted from person to person and characterised by fever, headache, joint and muscle pain.
A person suffering from it also experiences sore throat, weakness, diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal pains and bleeding from all body openings, i.e eyes, nose,gums, ears, anus and the skin.
"Kabale District borders Rwanda, and specifically, the Districts of Gicumbi, Musanze, Nyagatare, and Burera that share a boarder with Uganda are at a high risk," the warning reads.
MoH, in collaboration with its partners, and through the emergency preparedness team, is taking actions to prevent potential health risks that might be caused by the deadly disease.
Alert warnings have been issued to all health centres on how to detect and handle cases once they arise. Health care providers at District Hospitals and Health Centres have been trained to prevent and manage the fever.
All necessary kits and medical supplies needed have been dispatched to all health facilities.
Members of public are required to seek medical attention at the nearest health facility especially those who visited Uganda and are experiencing signs or suspect they might be having the virus.
The ministry says it has elaborated plans to effectively respond should there be an outbreak. It, however, urges the public to stay calm. http://allafrica.com/stories/201210210096.html
Health Ministry warns on Marburg outbreak
The Ministry of Health has this Friday warned the general public of an outbreak of a deadly Marburg virus in Kitumba sub-county, Kabale district in western Uganda.
Health experts have confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Marburg after samples from two relatives taken to the Uganda Virus Institute and tested positive.
Police Thursday stopped the burial of Boaz Turyahikayo a lecturer at Uganda Christian University and his sister Mildrid Asasira after it emerged that their family had lost four people from a mysterious disease in just a month.
The other two are Lillian Banegura their mother and an elder brother Bernard Rutaro who passed away early this month. ..
Alert on as Marburg death toll rises to five
By Robert Muhereza
Posted Sunday, October 21 2012 at 01:00
IN SUMMARY
New case. One more death reported in Kabale as health officials monitor another confirmed case who crossed to Rukungiri, seeking help from preachers.
The death toll from an outbreak of the Marburg virus, a rare and highly contagious form of hemorrhagic fever closely related to the Ebola, has risen to five in just four days, with a new suspected case registered Friday night.
Nathan Biryamurabaho 50, a resident of Bukora Kitumba Sub-county, was the fifth person to die of the virus that was confirmed on Friday in the south-western district of Kabale by the Ministry of Health. The developments come 16 days after Uganda was declared Ebola free.
The Kabale Regional Referral Hospital Director, Dr Placid Mihayo, said the patient died a few hours after he had been referred from Rugarama Hospital when his condition worsened.
The victim is a relative to the family that lost four people in the same sub-county who tested positive to the Marburg virus. “The deceased died at our isolated ward. The symptoms are exactly similar to those of his relatives who died on Thursday at this hospital. We need experts from the Ministry to demonstrate how to handle this emergency scare so that our members of staff can learn from them,” Dr Mihayo said.
The Kabale District Health Officer, Dr Patrick Tusiime, said the relatives of the deceased sneaked the body out of the hospital after the medical team abandoned them.
“We are planning to go to the residence of the deceased and pick the body for postmortem. Such handling of suspected Marburg case should stop because the virus shall spread very fast to other people,” Dr Tusiime said.
October deaths
Another four people who have died since October 4 were also suspected to have been killed by the disease, the Health ministry said in a statement.
“Preliminary reports from the district indicate that four other people had allegedly died of a strange disease since October 4th,” said a press statement issues by Health ministry.
Dr Tusiime said another confirmed victim of the highly-infectious viral hemorrhagic fever only identified as Obed had crossed into Rukungiri District. Obed is said to be seeking healing from religious leaders as he claims to have been bewitched. He escaped from the health facility on Wednesday.
“The results from the Uganda Virus Research Institute clearly show that this man is Marburg positive. We have located where he is and we have liaised with our health counterparts in Rukungiri to monitor him from there,” Dr Tusiime said.
Despite the availability of protective gears and first aid treatment, fear has gripped the medical workers who are now abandoning the hospital.
“Last evening (Friday), when health officials learnt that the victims who passed away had similar symptoms as those of the four confirmed cases who had died earlier, they run away because they are scared of the disease,” said Dr Tusiime.
Experts requested for
The hospital has now requested for experts from the Ministry of Health to handle the patients. A team of health officials have already been dispatched to the district to support both clinical and public health investigations. Also a National Taskforce has reactivated its rapid response committees to quickly act on any emergencies.
Efforts are also underway to trace and list all possible contacts that were exposed to the suspects and confirmed cases. The Ministry of Health urges the general public to report any suspected patient to a nearby health unit and avoid public gatherings or direct contact with body fluids of a person suffering from Marburg by using gloves and masks.
The last outbreak of Marburg in Uganda came in 2007 and killed two miners in the district.http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/Nation...z/-/index.html
Posted Sunday, October 21 2012 at 01:00
IN SUMMARY
New case. One more death reported in Kabale as health officials monitor another confirmed case who crossed to Rukungiri, seeking help from preachers.
The death toll from an outbreak of the Marburg virus, a rare and highly contagious form of hemorrhagic fever closely related to the Ebola, has risen to five in just four days, with a new suspected case registered Friday night.
Nathan Biryamurabaho 50, a resident of Bukora Kitumba Sub-county, was the fifth person to die of the virus that was confirmed on Friday in the south-western district of Kabale by the Ministry of Health. The developments come 16 days after Uganda was declared Ebola free.
The Kabale Regional Referral Hospital Director, Dr Placid Mihayo, said the patient died a few hours after he had been referred from Rugarama Hospital when his condition worsened.
The victim is a relative to the family that lost four people in the same sub-county who tested positive to the Marburg virus. “The deceased died at our isolated ward. The symptoms are exactly similar to those of his relatives who died on Thursday at this hospital. We need experts from the Ministry to demonstrate how to handle this emergency scare so that our members of staff can learn from them,” Dr Mihayo said.
The Kabale District Health Officer, Dr Patrick Tusiime, said the relatives of the deceased sneaked the body out of the hospital after the medical team abandoned them.
“We are planning to go to the residence of the deceased and pick the body for postmortem. Such handling of suspected Marburg case should stop because the virus shall spread very fast to other people,” Dr Tusiime said.
October deaths
Another four people who have died since October 4 were also suspected to have been killed by the disease, the Health ministry said in a statement.
“Preliminary reports from the district indicate that four other people had allegedly died of a strange disease since October 4th,” said a press statement issues by Health ministry.
Dr Tusiime said another confirmed victim of the highly-infectious viral hemorrhagic fever only identified as Obed had crossed into Rukungiri District. Obed is said to be seeking healing from religious leaders as he claims to have been bewitched. He escaped from the health facility on Wednesday.
“The results from the Uganda Virus Research Institute clearly show that this man is Marburg positive. We have located where he is and we have liaised with our health counterparts in Rukungiri to monitor him from there,” Dr Tusiime said.
Despite the availability of protective gears and first aid treatment, fear has gripped the medical workers who are now abandoning the hospital.
“Last evening (Friday), when health officials learnt that the victims who passed away had similar symptoms as those of the four confirmed cases who had died earlier, they run away because they are scared of the disease,” said Dr Tusiime.
Experts requested for
The hospital has now requested for experts from the Ministry of Health to handle the patients. A team of health officials have already been dispatched to the district to support both clinical and public health investigations. Also a National Taskforce has reactivated its rapid response committees to quickly act on any emergencies.
Efforts are also underway to trace and list all possible contacts that were exposed to the suspects and confirmed cases. The Ministry of Health urges the general public to report any suspected patient to a nearby health unit and avoid public gatherings or direct contact with body fluids of a person suffering from Marburg by using gloves and masks.
The last outbreak of Marburg in Uganda came in 2007 and killed two miners in the district.http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/Nation...z/-/index.html
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
DRC: Continuing efforts to contain Ebola
"Their last confirmed case was admitted in the MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières]/Ministry of Health Ebola ward on October 10, after two weeks with no confirmed cases," Olimpia de la Rosa, MSF medical emergency coordinator, told IRIN in an email. "The decrease in the number of admissions in our facility makes us think that we are on the way to contain the outbreak, but containment efforts must continue until no cases are confirmed for at least 21 days."
According to the UN World Health Organization's (WHO) 8 Octoberupdate, the disease had claimed 24 lives by 7 October, while 31 cases had been confirmed and 18 were suspected. The outbreak, first reported on 17 August, is in Isiro and Viadana health zones in the country's north-eastern Orientale Province.
The Ministry of Health is working with a task force that includes, among others, MSF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and WHO. Its activities involve surveillance, health worker training, community education and the implementation of biosafety measures. MSF has also set up a centre for supportive treatment of Ebola patients.
Ebola, which causes fever and bleeding from orifices, can cause death within days. There is no cure or vaccine for it, so efforts are concentrated on stopping its spread. The current strain in DRC has been identified as Ebola-Bundibugyo - named for a Ugandan district that borders the DRC. The fatality rate rate for this strain is estimated at about 40 percent.
Medical situation delicate
According to MSF's de la Rosa, there is "a need to reinforce health staff knowledge about the ways of transmission of the disease and about the ways to protect patients and themselves from contagion".
Ebola is new to the area, and few local health workers had been trained to deal with it when the outbreak began. Several health workers have succumbed to the outbreak. Maintaining empathy for severely ill patients while ensuring health workers remain disease-free is a challenge.
"For the health staff providing care in the treatment centre, it is a big challenge to make compatible biosafety measures and establish[ing] an empathic patient-care giver relationship. Gloves, goggles, masks, gowns… pose a barrier to transmission but also to human contact and communication," she said.
"Physical contact through the protection material, words [of support] and provision of good medical care in the most friendly facility that biosafety allows can help to overcome this challenge and ensure the providing of quality medical treatment and patients' well-being."
Prevention a problem
According to WHO, "Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals." Fruit bats are considered to be the natural host of the virus.
Preventing future outbreaks will remain difficult as long as the response is reactionary, de la Rosa noted. "It is very difficult to prevent an Ebola outbreak from appearing because we still ignore [the virus] in non-epidemic periods, making impossible to stop the appearance of the first cases," she said. "We can just detect outbreaks when some patients become infected, usually when they die of unknown causes." http://www.irinnews.org/Report/96572/DRC-Continuing-efforts-to-contain-Ebola
Meanwhile, neighbouring Uganda, which experienced a fatal Ebola outbreak in the western district of Kibaale in July, was declared Ebola-free by the country’s Ministry of Health on 4 October.
Meningitis outbreak: Illness linked to 3rd fungus
Meningitis victims sue as probe continues
2:25 AM, Oct 17, 2012
A third fungus — black mold most commonly found on outdoor plants — is likely part of the national meningitis outbreak linked to a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy that supplied epidural steroids and other drugs.\
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed one Cladosporium infection, and CDC Medical Epidemiologist Tom Chiller linked it to the outbreak. He shared the news in a conference call with doctors and pharmacists nationwide.
At the same time, agents with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration raided the closed-down New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., carting off samples and documents.
An FDA spokesman called the raid part of the agency’s ongoing investigation. That includes checking drug samples from New England Compounding Center, reviewing the facility’s operations — including whether it had valid prescriptions for the drugs it compounded — and learning where the drugs went.
The Framingham plant shut down Oct. 3. On Oct. 4, New England Compounding Center recalled all of its 1,200 products.
The FDA is trying to determine how many doses of those products were shipped to clinics nationwide. In the meningitis outbreak, 17,676 vials of the steroid methylprednisolone acetate were shipped to 23 states.
At this point, the most frequent contaminant found in cases related to the compounding pharmacy is the fungus Exserohilum. Another fungus, Aspergillus, was detected in one patient — the September case at Vanderbilt University Medical Center that alerted officials to the meningitis outbreak that has now sickened 233 patients in 15 states. Fifteen of those patients have died.
In Tennessee, 59 patients with fungal meningitis had steroid epidurals into their spinal columns. Those were provided at PCA Pain Center in Oak Ridge, Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center in Nashville and the Specialty Surgery Center in Crossville.
The number of confirmed deaths in Tennessee remains at six.
Like the other two molds in the outbreak, Cladosporium is commonly found in the environment on decaying plant matter and soil, said Stephanie Petty, an environmental scientist at Nashville-based Resolution Inc., which provides environmental consulting for businesses.
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