Breaking! Another Deadly Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever Hits Uganda, Kills Man
The outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic fever which was announced by Elioda Tumwesigye, the minister of state for health, has left one person, the index case dead, one person in isolation and over 80 others being monitored both in central and western Uganda.
Marburg hemorrhagic fever is an acute infectious viral disease belonging to the same family as Ebola. Unfortunately, it is often fatal. The modes of transmission (contact with certain animals – bats or monkeys – and between people – direct contact with blood, body fluids, secretions and tissue from sick people, animals or dead bodies), and the symptoms (sudden onset of high fever, severe headaches, general pain and weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea, internal and external bleeding) are similar. During the incubation period (2 to 21 days), infected people are not contagious.
“As with Ebola, there’s no vaccine and no treatment other than supportive care (rehydration, stabilising blood pressure, reducing the fever, administering pain-killers and antiemetics),” explains Dr Estrella LASRY, MSF’s adviser on tropical diseases. “The last Marburg epidemic in Uganda was in 2012. It lasted just over two months. There were 20 cases and 45% of them were fatal. That same year there were also 2 Ebola epidemics in the country”.
MSF has been working in Uganda since 1986. “Usually, we run HIV and AIDS-related activities. But as on all our projects, our teams are always on stand-by to respond to emergency situations: in 2013/2014, it was assistance to Congolese and South-Sudanese refugees ; in 2012 it was a response to the Ebola epidemics”, recounts Pierre MENDIHARAT, MSF’s programme manager in Uganda said...Click here to Read more
Marburg hemorrhagic fever is an acute infectious viral disease belonging to the same family as Ebola. Unfortunately, it is often fatal. The modes of transmission (contact with certain animals – bats or monkeys – and between people – direct contact with blood, body fluids, secretions and tissue from sick people, animals or dead bodies), and the symptoms (sudden onset of high fever, severe headaches, general pain and weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea, internal and external bleeding) are similar. During the incubation period (2 to 21 days), infected people are not contagious.
“As with Ebola, there’s no vaccine and no treatment other than supportive care (rehydration, stabilising blood pressure, reducing the fever, administering pain-killers and antiemetics),” explains Dr Estrella LASRY, MSF’s adviser on tropical diseases. “The last Marburg epidemic in Uganda was in 2012. It lasted just over two months. There were 20 cases and 45% of them were fatal. That same year there were also 2 Ebola epidemics in the country”.
MSF has been working in Uganda since 1986. “Usually, we run HIV and AIDS-related activities. But as on all our projects, our teams are always on stand-by to respond to emergency situations: in 2013/2014, it was assistance to Congolese and South-Sudanese refugees ; in 2012 it was a response to the Ebola epidemics”, recounts Pierre MENDIHARAT, MSF’s programme manager in Uganda said...Click here to Read more