By Gilbert Akampa Kakurugu,
HEALTH
The Uganda Ministry of health has sent a team of public health experts to the Tanzania- Uganda border to do a Marburg spread risk assessment following an outbreak in Kagera, Tanzania.
Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the ministry spokesperson says they have sent teams to do risk assessments in the districts neighboring Tanzania that include Kalangala, Kyotera and Isingiro. There is also a team doing risk assessments in Kampala.
The most recent outbreak of Marburg in Uganda was in Kween district in 2017, that was linked to the consumption of meat by a hunter from a bat.
In 2019, a research study by BMC public health with Professor William Bazeyo as the Principal investigator defines MVD as viral haemorrhagic fever that affects both humans and primates.
The research article noted that the first outbreak of Marburg was first reported in 1967 in Germany with links to monkeys that were imported from Uganda for research purposes.
Most of the Marburg disease outbreaks in Uganda have been linked to bat species “Rousettus aegypti.’’ The disease is caused by filovirus similar to that of Ebola that belongs to family Filoviridae.
Outbreak in Tanzania
Tanzania’s health minister Dr. Dorothy Gwajima confirmed that the strange disease that had put the government and citizens on edges for more than a week is Marburg Virus Disease. This was revealed by Dr. Dorothy on Tuesday evening in a media address noting that the strange disease was first reported in Kagera region.
Kagera region in the north western part of Tanzania covers Mutukula town, a major border post for trade between the two countries of Uganda and Tanzania.
Last week, the ministry of health in Tanzania declared an outbreak of unknown disease that had already claimed five lives. The illness has been detected in seven people with symptoms including fever, vomiting bleeding from different body parts, liver and kidney failure.
The health ministry of Uganda is at a watch after the recent outbreak of Ebola that claimed 55 lives before the ministry of health declared its end in January this year.
Dr. Dorothy Gwajima says there is no need to panic or stop economic activities because Tanzania is not the first following reports of the same disease in other countries including Equatorial Guinea where the death toll is already at 11 people with 48 contact cases reported.
