"Then said he (i.e., Christ) unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: "And (there shall be) great earthquakes in ... divers places, and famines, and pestilences (i.e., diseases, epidemics, etc.) ..." (Luke 21:10-11)
The violators of the right to life through creation of Aids and Ebola viruses create medical neo-liberal elites that publish enormously on the flawed Patient –Zero thesis and the so called confirmed hypothesis that Aids came from a green African monkey. Mean while the violators of the rights to life emerge as promoters and protectors of the right to health of HIV patients through setting up of HIV Aids NGOS to aid the poor , corporations to manufacture expensive ARVs, companies to manufacture condoms, dishing out billions of dollars to elites to fund HIV initiatives which end up being embezzled. Any one who tries to challenge the patient Zero thesis and the hypothesis that AIDS came from a green African monkey will be demonized as a non-intellectual, non-scientific and mentally retarded socialist or communist . At the end of the day the dissimulation becomes so powerful that the reality that AIDS is a man-made virus is no longer important. What is important is the hyper reality that the AIDS creators are now the holy care takers of Aids victims and geniuses behind the discovery of ARVs that pro-long the lives of HIV patients . see, CAPITALISM DISSIMULATION AND MINORITY RIGHTS : A REFUTATION OF THE NATURALISTIC FOUNDATION OF GAY SEXUAL RIGHTS, https://www.academia.edu/5674215/CAPITALISM_DISSIMULATION_AND_MINORITY_RIGHTS_A_REFUTATION_OF_THE_NATURALISTIC_FOUNDATION_OF_GAY_SEXUAL_RIGHTS
FIRST READ:
THE DRUG EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES,
EBOLA, AND AIDS[IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
Marburg out break in Uganda : 132 now being monitored: Naïve Ugandans think the diseases has come about because Ugandans are dirty
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/10/marburg-out-break-in-uganda-132-now.html
Testing biological weapons on Ugandan Guinea pigs: Deadly Ebola virus breaks out in Luweero(Uganda)
Forbidden territory: Uganda Doctor questions Why is Uganda prone to infectious diseases?
The evil that humans do: Ebola Kills 14 in Kibale District of Uganda: Locals believed the illnesses were the result of an attack of evil spirits, send the sick for prayers
From Uganda now to DR Congo test of Ebola on African Guinea Pigs Continues: 31 people including 5 health-care workers die from Ebola virus in Congo
US cannot continue funding treatment and care yet more and more Ugandans are getting infected: Oh! really
Strange malaria-like disease hits Uganda
Publish Date: Feb 03, 2014
The strange disease, Chikungunya, is malaria-like. Insecticide-treated nets repel mosquitoes which transmit parasites
Health experts have confirmed a strange viral infection in Uganda. Chikungunya, transmitted by mosquitoes and whose signs and symptoms are similar to those of malaria, has no known vaccine or cure at the moment.
Dr. Myers Lugemwa, the head of the malaria control programme at the health ministry, confirmed cases of the chikungunya infection in Uganda, especially around River Semliki and in the West Nile region.
He, however, said there were few incidences, so there was no need for panic.
Symptoms
Patients bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus present with severe muscle pains, high temperature, lymph node pains and swellings and may develop a rash that eventually bleeds if unattended to.
They develop red eyes and also have severe headaches and backaches and may start vomiting.
Who is prone?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already sounded a concern regarding the growing incidences of the viral infection, especially around the Caribbean Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have sent out a health advisory to doctors in the United States to consider chikungunya infection in patients with acute onset of fever and joint pain.
How it is spread
Chikungunya, which was first isolated in Tanzania in 1953, is commonly spread by the aedes and aegypti mosquitoes that also transmit dengue fever, a similar but more serious illness with a deadly haemorrhagic form.
Unlike the female anopheles mosquito that transmits malaria plasmodium and is common in Uganda, Lugemwa says the aedes and aegypti mosquitoes are rare, except around the prone areas surrounding River Semliki and the West Nile region.
Incubation period
Lugemwa says once bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus, the incubation takes between three and 12 days before symptoms manifest. The illness is still not life-threatening, but there is no vaccine.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis is carried out using specialised equipment, lest the disease is mistaken for malaria or another form of haemorrhagic fever.
Several methods can be used for diagnosis. Lugemwa says the infection can also inhibit in other animals, especially monkeys and can also be transmitted from mother-to-child when the baby is still in the womb.
“There are many types of mosquitoes and some transmit viruses. For instance, the West Nile virus is transmitted by a mosquito. It is only because these mosquitoes are not common in Uganda,” he adds.
However, the fact that mosquitoes can also transmit viruses should not cause alarm because mosquitoes cannot transmit the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
“The mosquitoes aedes and aegypti transmit a virus scientifically called alphavirus, whereas HIV is a retrovirus (a family of enveloped viruses that replicate in a host cell),” he adds.
Lugemwa explains that HIV cannot survive inside the body of the mosquito, while the chikungunya can. He says cases of the chikungunya virus have, in the past, also been reported in Asia, Latin America, the Congo and in Europe.
Lugemwa says in Tanzania, chikungunya means “break your back” because the person with the disease has a severe backache.
Prevention
He says the ministry’s antimalarial interventions like indoor spraying and distributing free mosquito nets, also help in the prevention of these and other diseases such as malaria.
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FACTS ON CHIKUNGUNYA
By Dr. Cory Couillard
Chikungunya outbreaks represent the first time mosquitos in the Americas have been infected and spreading chikungunya to people.
There is no cure for the disease and international travel can easily cause a global resurgence in this infectious disease. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control urges health providers to heighten their vigilance against the disease, especially with travels abroad.
Since 2004, chikungunya fever has reached epidemic proportions, with considerable morbidity and suffering in Africa, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. In Africa, chikungunya commonly occurs in Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The virus causes similar symptoms as dengue and is often misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common.
The virus is commonly spread through bites from mosquitos that live around buildings in urban areas. These bites pose the greatest risk to those who sleep during daytime, especially young children and the elderly.
With no cure, treatment is often only focused on relieving accompanying symptoms.
The World Health Organisation’s website reveals that most patients recover fully, but in some cases joint pain may persist for several months, or even years. Occasional cases of eye, neurological and heart complications have been reported, as well as gastrointestinal complaints. Individuals are urged to protect themselves by covering exposed skin with long pants and long-sleeved shirts.
Insect repellents can also serve as an effective way to prevent mosquito bites.
Dr. Cory Couillard is an international health columnist that works in collaboration with the World Health Organisation's goals of disease prevention and control. Views do not necessarily reflect endorsement
First read:
Uganda invites global experts over nodding disease: Oh really
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/uganda-invites-global-experts-over.htmlA God Creation or a creation by human kind!!!!Mysterious Nodding Disease hits Northern Uganda
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/02/god-creation-or-creation-by-human.html
Publish Date: Jan 31, 2014
US experts to monitor deadly hemorrhagic fevers in Uganda
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/652020-us-experts-to-monitor-deadly-hemorrhagic-fevers-in-uganda.html
By John Agaba
The United States Department of Defense is partnering with the health ministry to improve regional surveillance of deadly hemorrhagic fevers such as Marburg and Ebola.
The United States Department of Defense is partnering with the health ministry to improve regional surveillance of deadly hemorrhagic fevers such as Marburg and Ebola.
This was revealed Thursday by the health ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Asuman Lukwago, during the occasion to hand over 19 vehicles to facilitate monitoring and evaluation of health activities in the country.
Lukwago said a team of experts from the US Defense Department had already touched base in the country and was setting up structures on effective monitoring and control of the deadly fevers.
He said they are going to put epidemiologists (health experts) in every region of the country to constantly be on the lookout for any outbreak.
“In case any disease breaks up, these epidemiologists will be able to detect it very fast,” said Lukwago.
He said they were also working with the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Entebbe and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) so for any disease outbreak, samples can be taken at the Institute and diagnosis done quickly.
A statement from the CDC, also released yesterday, read that preventing, detecting and responding to outbreaks as early and effectively as possible was necessary to keep the world safe and secure from infectious disease threats.
The statement indicated that the CDC has been partnering with the health ministry to effectively monitor and control the deadly pathogens for the last six months. And that the partnership had resulted in improvements in disease detection and response.
Uganda has had its share of the deadly pathogens, the prominent cases being of Ebola and the Marburg virus which killed scores of people in Kabale district in 2012.
Hepatitis B breaks out in Mbarara
Mbarara district health officer, Dr. Amooti Kaguna said that two cases of Hepatitis B have been recorded in Mbarara district.
He however added that Hepatitis B is not new in the district
because it had already been detected in some people living with
HIV/AIDS.
Hepatitis B is a virus that causes irritation and swelling of the
liver. It can be spread through having contact with blood, semens,
vaginal fluids, and other body fluids of an infected person.
Hepatitis E Breaks Out in Kabong
http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story.php?s=24060
Sep 17, 2009
One person has died and 15 others are seriously ill
following an outbreak of the Hepatitis E virus in Kabongo district.
Dr. Lokio Talamoi, the Kotido district medical officer has confirmed the death of one resident as a result of Hepatitis E infection.
He says that 15 other people who are infected with the virus are admitted at various health units in Kabong district.
Dr. Talamoi says that they are yet to get test results from samples of blood drawn from the patients that were taken to Entebbe for screening.
He says that all the victims present with Hepatitis E symptoms such as vomiting and yellow eyes.
Dr Talamoi suspects that the virus could have spread to Kabong from Kitgum district, when an outbreak was recently reported.
He has advised residents to disposes off properly their waste to avoid further spread of the disease.
Hepatitis E is usually caused by the consumption of contaminated food or water. It can be passed on by someone infected with the virus that doesn't wash his or her hands properly after a bowel movement
Hepatitis E spread in northern Uganda:
What went wrong?
Publish Date: Sep 16, 2008
Newvision Archive
By Frederick Womakuyu FOLLOWING an outbreak of Hepatitis E in northern Uganda on October 25 last year, doctors and the public could not understand what they were dealing with. Many people have been infected and affected and more are dying, despite a 26% reduction in the number of cases, according to district surveillance focal teams in northern Uganda. But, how did Hepatitis E break out in the region and how did it manage to spread to 17 out of 19 sub-counties of Kitgum district and then later to Pader and Gulu?
It was at Padibe Health Centre IV lies, surrounded by one of the largest internally displaced people's camps, Padibe West and East, about 40kms from Kitgum town, that the first victims of Hepatitis E were treated.
“In October, we began witnessing unusual deaths,†says Charles Oyoo, the in-charge officer at the health centre. “People were coming in with headache, high fever, vomiting, general body weakness and yellow eyes. We thought they were suffering from malaria, yellow fever or hepatitis, but we couldn’t establish the exact disease or be sure of what we were dealing with.â€
Oyoo and his colleagues continued treating the patients, most of whom came from the nearby Madi Opei area — at least eight of the first patients.
How did Hepatitis E break out?
Officials, including Oyoo, believe the outbreak can be traced back to a family in Madi Opei that hosted a Sudanese national.
According to Obote Odwar, the district Hepatitis surveillance person for Kitgum, a 40-year-old mother came to Madi Opei seeking antenatal care at the health centre.
“After receiving the treatment, she stayed around with her Ugandan relatives for about one month. That was in September 2007,†he explains.
The current relative peaceful atmosphere after 20 years of war, has attracted some people back to the villages, but basic things like toilets and water are none existent.
“Due to this, the family of her relatives was defecating in the nearby bush. So when she stayed around, she too defecated in the bush,†Obote said.
Prior to this, a Hepatitis E outbreak was killing people in Southern Sudan and because she had been infected, she carried the virus in her fecal matter, says Obote. “In Kitgum, conditions like poor sanitation in both villages and camps with toilet coverage at 17%, leaving many people defecating in bushes favoured the virus. In addition, a number of factors accelerated its spread in 90% of the district.â€
One such factor is that Padibe Health Centre IV, like most health centres in the district, with its small staff and 12 beds, handles as many as 1,000 malaria cases each month.
The staff is used to treating serious medical conditions with limited resources. The Hepatitis E outbreak overwhelmed them because there was inadequate laboratory testing gear.
Oyoo says when they discovered that they were dealing with a mysterious disease, they alerted the Ministry of Health. They were instructed to take samples of the infected patients for testing at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI).
“But UVRI failed to establish what it was and sent the samples to Kenya and South Africa, both UVRI collaborative centres,†Oyoo says.
“The results were not clear, but they suspected Hepatitis, malaria and yellow fever. That was towards the end of October and the disease was spreading fast,†Oyoo says.
Dr. Charles Okot, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Kitgum sub-office, says it was not until WHO investigators arrived in late October that blood samples of patients were flown to the Atlanta Centre for Disease Control for testing. By that time, the health centre had 17 patients suffering from the mysterious illness. Hepatitis E was found in the blood sample of 13 of them.
How does the disease spread?
Okot adds that samples of water sources which were tested showed that wells and household water was heavily contaminated with fecal coli forms.
“Shallow boreholes were also contaminated, while the deep ones were not. At this time, we embarked on health education and advised the people to use pit latrines and consume water from protected boreholes,†he says. “But because people are still in camps with little latrine coverage and less drinking water, the virus continued spreading.â€
Hepatitis E is a viral disease transmitted through fecal matter. It is found in the stool of infected persons and animals, and is spread by drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated food.
The disease has an incubation period of 3-8 weeks, making it hard for the victims to realise the symptoms early enough and seek medical help.
“The disease has no cure, however, some patients (about 85%) may recover without visiting a health centre. About 15% will die. We can’t explain why, but what is plausible is that some people have strong immunity.â€
How is it that people who have lived in camps for two decades, never experienced anything like this before?
Dr. Okot says Hepatitis E is a new strain in Uganda and with the poor sanitation and personal hygiene at its lowest in the camps, the epidemic has already killed 126 people and left 8,060 people ill.
Okot adds that when the people in the camps realised that the disease was spreading rapidly and killing people, they fled to the villages.
“It is in then that the virus spread to other people, finding its way to the neighbouring districts of Pader and Gulu,†he says.
Government action
· The Government
recently launched a sh10b programme to promote good personal hygiene and
improved sanitation. It is hoped that this money will be used to construct pit
latrines and safe water sources in villages and camps.
Dr. Okot says in Kitgum for example, pit latrine coverage now stands at 22%, up from about 17%.
Dr. Okot says in Kitgum for example, pit latrine coverage now stands at 22%, up from about 17%.
· There are also
health education programmes to create awareness in the villages and camps
· Identification and
isolation of infected persons for treatment is being carried out.
Okot cautions that this is just a drop in the ocean. “The water situation remains bad in most areas and people are still drinking water from unprotected sources like wells and defecating in bushes,†Okot says.
Despite the intervention, people are still being admitted in health centres and when The New Vision visited Kitgum district, another patient, Peter Odongo, had just fallen prey to the deadly virus.
Protecting Health Workers against Hepatitis B in Uganda
Download the Protecting Health Workers against Hepatitis B in Uganda success story (PDF, 170 KB).Background
The day-to-day routine of a health care worker can be very rewarding, yet can also be difficult and sometimes even dangerous. For example, a 2007 outbreak of hepatitis B in Yumbe, a district in the West Nile region of Uganda, initially left one worker infected with hepatitis B, and later 17 others tested positive with the blood-borne virus.
"Now all students and health workers can be better protected against this professional hazard."
–Dr. Margaret Okello, Surgeon, Mulago National Referral Hospital,
appointed to oversee development of a statute to vaccinate health care
workers against hepatitis B.Intervention
To ensure that all health care workers are protected against the hepatitis B virus, AIDSTAR-One (funded by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR] through the U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID]) collaborated with the Uganda Ministry of Health to spearhead an advocacy campaign targeting managers in health and vocational education sectors to promote vaccination. AIDSTAR-One held intersectoral meetings and health care waste management training sessions, and supported visits with health workers in order to educate, sensitize, and mobilize staff on the importance of vaccination. With support from AIDSTAR-One, the Ministry of Health drafted a statute for parliament approval mandating vaccination against hepatitis B for all health workers. The Ministry of Health also engaged senior management staff to identify potential procurement sources for the vaccine.Outcome
The statute passed by the Ugandan parliament provided for the government-subsidized mandatory vaccination of health care workers and trainees against hepatitis B. It also set guidelines to help reduce the risk of transmission between patients and health care workers, students, interns, and trainees.
Dr. Amandua Jacinto, Uganda Commissioner of Health and Clinical Services, advocated for the vaccine.
