The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that it was unaware of an outbreak of Marburg viral haemorrhagic fever in the country. Information about a possible outbreak started circulating after the United States Embassy in Kampala released an advisory alerting its citizens that there was a potential case reported in Western Uganda.
The embassy said that it was aware of reports of a potential case of Marburg Virus Disease, a viral haemorrhagic fever, in western Uganda. The measures to protect yourself are the same as for any viral haemorrhagic fever, such as Ebola Bundibugyo Virus Disease. But when URN reached the ministry, Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Senior Public Relations Officer, said they don’t have any such information.
However, despite this stance, international media continues to report that Uganda had formally informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the confirmed Marburg case. Efforts to reach out to the WHO Uganda country representative, Dr Kasonde Mwinga, were futile as our calls went unanswered.
Fears of a Marburg outbreak come at the time when the ministry is battling an outbreak of similar haemorrhagic fever, Ebola Bundibugyo. As of Wednesday, statistics shared by the Ministry show they had three patients in admission. Since May, when the outbreak was declared, the country has confirmed a total of twenty cases, of which fifteen were imported from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Like Ebola, if not quickly managed, Marburg has the potential to transmit very fast and is lethal, with a fatality rate of about 50 percent. In past outbreaks, case fatality rates have varied from 24% to 88%, but experts say early supportive care with rehydration and symptomatic treatment improves survival. Uganda’s last fully confirmed outbreak was reported in October 2017, and the first case was of a 50-year-old woman in Kween district in Eastern Uganda.
Officially, however, the disease has been around for more than fifty years, with the very first documented outbreak reported in the 1960s in Marburg, Germany, where scientists were conducting a study that involved monkeys from Uganda. Several outbreaks have since happened in other countries, including in the neighboring DRC. Marburg, which is believed to be spread by monkeys and bats, is transmitted through direct contact with blood, secretions, and other bodily fluids of an infected person or animal-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
