EBOLA: High risk suspect vanishes

Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A man believed to be a high risk Ebola suspect is still missing, according to the World Health Organisation-WHO. The suspect is believed to have had contact with the three confirmed cases confirmed Ebola cases from the same family.

Officials are not sure whether he returned to DRC or is still in Uganda.

According to WHO, efforts to trace the male suspect since last week have been futile.  There are 90 contacts under follow up and none has developed symptoms to date.

Benjamin Sensasi, a WHO Health and Communications Officer, says contact tracing teams are still looking for the suspect. “He could have gone back to DRC but if he is in Uganda, our tracers will find him.”

The high risk suspect is said to have first traveled to Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC to bury his father, a pastor who succumbed to Ebola. He then crossed back into Uganda with his family using the porous at Mpondwe market in Kasese district.

The three confirmed Ebola cases that he had contact with have all passed away and were his relatives. The latest victim, a three year old boy passed away on June 13th 2019 as he was being repatriated to DRC to receive treatment. It is now seven days since the first confirmed case was announced.

According to Sensasi, it is possible that the missing Ebola suspected cases crossed back into DRC using one of the many porous entries.

The other family members that the high risk suspect is believed to have entered Uganda with, including a six month old baby, maid plus the father of the children were repatriated back to DRC on Thursday.

The four were sent back to receive Ebola therapeutic treatments in case they develop symptoms of the disease. The treatments are not available in Uganda. Ebola is a highly infectious disease that can be spread through contact with body fluids like sweat, blood, vomit, tears and semen of an infected person.

According to doctors, it takes 21 days on average for person infected with Ebola to show symptoms like vomiting blood, bloody diarrhea, abdominal and muscle pains, headaches and fevers. So far, 98 people who had contact with the three confirmed cases or contacts are being monitored by health teams in Kasese.  Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Senior Public Relations Officer Ministry of Health, says that the contacts haven’t shown any Ebola like symptoms.

“We are monitoring all contacts at their homes and so far, none of them has shown symptoms of having Ebola.” Ring vaccination of all contacts and frontline health workers begun on Saturday at Bwera General Hospital. On Sunday, vaccination took place at Kagando hospital and is scheduled to move to other parts of the district and country.

Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is in the country to assess the response to the current Ebola outbreak in Kasese District, Western Uganda.

Dr Tedros is expected to meet the President of Republic of Uganda Yoweri Museveni today for a bilateral on the current Ebola outbreak that has spilled over to Uganda.

Dr. Tedros made a stopover in Uganda while on his way from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where he visited the Ebola hotspots, Butembo and Katwa. This is his third visit to Uganda since the Ebola outbreak was declared in August 2018 in DRC.

He was received by the Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng and her technical teams, Mrs Rosa Malango the UN Resident Representative, Dr Yonas Tegyn the WHO country Rep. Uganda and Dr Lisa Nelson, the Director CDC Uganda, yesterday at Protea Hotel in Entebbe at 7:00PM.

In his remarks, he pledged continued support to Uganda to contain this outbreak. “From our side, I would like to pledge that we will continue mobilizing global and regional support to control this outbreak as soon as possible. It is not clean until the outbreak in DRC is finished”

Dr Tedros commented on the seemingly declining trends in Butembo and Katwa. He said, “There appears to be a decline in Butembo and Katwa areas. However, in my discussions with my colleagues, we agreed to be very careful with optimism but very cautious optimism because the Ebola situation in DRC has been very unpredictable with up and down trends.

He further said that Mabalako where the Ebola outbreak was first confirmed in August 2018 has once again become a hot bed of new infections. “Mabalako is now the hottest place where cases actually came from to Uganda” Dr Tedros noted.

Dr. Tedros explained that “I have accepted the assessment of the WHO Emergency Committee that although the Ebola outbreak in DRC is an emergency in the country and the region, it does not currently constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern(PHEIC).”

He also revealed that in December 2018, WHO requested MERCK to produce more doses of the ‘Ebola-rVSV’ vaccine, to continue supporting the outbreak.

In her remarks, the Minister of Health,  Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said that, the transition from a preparedness mode to a response mode was not difficult given that Ministry of health and partners had invested heavily in ten months of preparations to handle any eventualities. However, she said, “the challenge is that we now have to again mobilize resources for the response phase.

She appreciated the WHO for the support with the Ebola vaccines during the preparedness phase, where over 4,200 frontline health workers and other workers were vaccinated in Uganda.

“During this response phase, we have received a total of 3400 doses of the vaccine. A donation of 400 doses from the DRC as a quick initial measure to kick start vaccination of contacts, frontline health workers and other workers who were not vaccinated, and an additional 3,000 doses sent in by WHO.  All these arrived very timely and vaccinations commenced last Saturday, 15 June 2019 where over 20 contacts were vaccinated. Today, we expected to vaccinate over 70 people and the process will continue.”

Dr Aceng appreciated the efforts and contributions of all partners in Uganda towards the containment of the Ebola outbreak.

The UN resident Coordinator, Rosa Malango appreciated the political commitment of Government in responding to emergencies. “I have discussed with Dr. Yonas, and agreed to meet on Monday 17^th June 2019, to once again analyze the gaps and identify where support is needed in terms of financial resources” she said.

As of now, Uganda has no confirmed case of Ebola. Two suspect cases were under isolation in Bwera Ebola Treatment Unit as of Sunday 16^th June. One of the suspect cases tested negative for Ebola and has been discharged, while results of the other suspect cases is pending.

Ministry of Health remains on high alert and appeals to the population to remain calm and cooperate with the response teams on the ground.

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URN & WHO