Health Ministry downplays calls to declare Kasese Ebola-free

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of health has downplayed calls to declare Kasese district free of the deadly Ebola Virus.

A call had been made by the District Deputy Resident District Commissioner Joshua Masereka for the district to be declared Ebola-free on grounds that disease had been contained with no new infections recorded since the first group which was confirmed on June 11, 2019.

Three people tested positive to the Ebola epidemic in the western Uganda district. Two of the victims eventually died and were buried in Kasese while the third victim who was repatriated to the Democratic Republic of Congo for further therapeutic management died before he could reach Beni where the Ebola Treatment Centre is located.

The remaining suspected fourteen cases tested negative and have since been discharged from the Ebola Treatment Unit at Bwera Hospital in Kasese. Masereka said it was clear that the district has contained the disease and perhaps it was time the ministry declared Kasese free of the monstrous disease.

But Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng argued that much as Uganda has contained the disease, there remains an imminent threat posed by the persistence of the deadly disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC has been grappling with the Ebola Virus Disease since August 2018.

More than 1500 people have succumbed to the viral disease since it was first registered at Mangina in the North Kivu Province, a fatality rate of 67 per cent.

Aceng argues that the fact that the DRC still has the epidemic, the chances of it spilling over are high adding that until the DRC is free of the disease; Uganda will not declare an end to the outbreak unless advised otherwise by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the Regional Director for World health Organisation- Africa appealed to Ugandan health workers to remain focused and vigilant in the fight against the Ebola Virus.  Moeti said that the world health body is committed to supporting Uganda in preventing the spread until the DRC is also free of the disease.

The incubation period for Ebola Virus Disease ranges between 2-21 days after infection, according to guidelines by the WHO and CDC. During this time, it is believed that individuals infected with the virus are not contagious. The Mean incubation time for the 2000 Uganda outbreak, with a total of 425 cases was calculated at 4 days.

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