Wednesday, 8 October 2014

99 in isolation after Uganda Marburg death

Kampala, Uganda -- (CNN) - Three days after a fatal case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever was diagnosed in Uganda, 99 people are under isolation in four different locations across the East African country, as field epidemiologists and surveillance officers continue to closely monitor all people who got into contact with only victim.

More than 60 health workers form the bulk of people under isolation after they were identified as having contact with a 30-year old male health worker who died September 28 of Marburg -- an Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever.

"As of today, a total of 99 contacts are under follow up. All the contacts are still in a healthy condition," Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, director general for health services in Uganda, said in the latest update on the outbreak on Tuesday.


"The National Taskforce through the field epidemiologists and surveillance officers continues to closely monitor all people who got into contact with this confirmed case," she noted.

The dead health worker was a radiographer in a hospital in the capital of Kampala and also at Mpigi District Health Center IV, places where authorities say he made contact with colleagues.

Aceng revealed that at least 11 people have tested negative after results from Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) indicate that although the suspects had developed signs and symptoms similar to that of the disease, they did not contract the virus.

"However, for those who continue to have signs, tests will be run again after three days," Dr. Aceng said.

Among those who tested negative include are the brother of the deceased; two health workers from a children HIV/AIDS hospital; seven persons from Mpigi Health Center IV; and two relatives of the deceased who participated in the burial.

"When he felt ill on September 17, he traveled back to Mpigi for treatment since he felt more comfortable with a facility that he had worked with for a long time, a duration the disease was spread," said a statement by health authorities last Sunday.

Marburg virus was first identified in 1967, when 31 people became sick in Germany and Yugoslavia in an outbreak that was eventually traced back to laboratory monkeys imported from Uganda. Since then the virus has appeared sporadically, with just a dozen outbreaks on record, many -- including the current situation -- involving just a single patient.

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