Uganda registered the first death in its capital, Kampala, due to the Ebola epidemic declared in the country on September 20, when a patient who had fled from the Mubende district (center), the origin of the outbreak and where he had died, died in the city. been diagnosed, Ugandan health authorities reported.
“This gentleman was a listed contact but he ran away to get treatment from a traditional healer. When he didn’t work out, he asked to be taken to Kiruddu hospital.”in Kampala, the Ugandan Minister of Health, Jane Ruth Aceng, said yesterday, according to local media reports today.
According to the authorities, the man fled Mubende about a week ago, moved to the Luweero district, located in the capital’s metropolitan area, and He died last Friday, October 7.after being admitted to the medical center the day before.
The body of the sick man, who had been identified under a false name to avoid arrest, was recognized by leaders of the Mubende community when he was transferred there again to be buried.
According to the latest official data, the outbreak already accumulates a total of 54 confirmed cases, including 19 deaths, as well as 20 probable deaths of people who died before tests could be carried out to confirm if they had the virus.
Last week, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Uganda, Yonas Tegegn, explained that the country is working on the protocols to import two types of vaccinesalthough its effectiveness against the unusual strain from Sudan, responsible for this outbreak, has not yet been proven.
One of those vaccines is developed by the Sabin Vaccine Institute (USA), while the second candidate is from researchers at the University of Oxford (UK).
”Right now, Ugandan and international scientists are working to distribute these vaccines in Uganda. But we still do not have enough data to be able to distribute them on a large scale and, in addition, supplies are scarce, ”said Tegegn in a virtual press conference last Thursday.
Unlike the Zairean strain, recorded in epidemics of the disease in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), there is still no approved vaccine for this strain.
Uganda declared an Ebola outbreak on September 20 after confirming a case in the Mubende district, where a 24-year-old man died of the disease caused by the virus.
The Sudan strain is not only less transmissible but also has lower mortality than the Zaire strain.
Countries such as the DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Somalia are on alert to prevent a possible spread of the virus.
Discovered in 1976 in the DRC – then called Zaire – Ebola is a serious, often fatal disease that affects humans and other primates and is transmitted by direct contact with the blood and body fluids of infected people or animals.
It causes severe bleeding and its first symptoms are sudden and high fever, severe weakness, and muscle, head, and throat pain, as well as vomiting.
The virus ravaged several West African countries from 2014 to 2016, when 11,300 people died and there were more than 28,500 cases.
(with information from EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com