The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
“Uganda has led an exemplary response. Health authorities and partners, with the support of WHO, were able to detect and control the spread of Marburg virus disease within a matter of weeks,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
Minister Opendi confirmed that the total cost of the outbreak response was approximately Uganda Shillings 3.5Billion, both in cash, services and material commodities from Government and partners.
” We wish to once again reassure the general public that the Government of Uganda with support from partners has built the capacity of health workers in dealing with outbreaks, as evidenced in the quick and robust response to the just-ended Marburg virus disease outbreak,” Opendi said.
The Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) outbreak was declared by the Ministry of Health on 19 October, 2017 following laboratory tests conducted at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) which confirmed that one person had succumbed to MVD on 13 October 2017.
The Ministry of Health, in the statement, gave credit to World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), European Union, Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS), World Vision Uganda, Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), WALIMU, FHI360, JMEDICC, and the media in the campaing.
“The Ministry of Health further acknowledges the efforts and contribution of the Kween and Kapchorwa district authorities staff and VHTs to the control of this outbreak. We also wish to thank the communities for their cooperation.”
History of the virus
According to the Uganda Virus Research Institute, the first known case of Marburg in the country was in the western district of Kamwenge in 2007.
A 2012 outbreak killed 10 people and in 2014 one man died.
The Marburg virus is one of the most deadly known pathogens. Like Ebola, it is a haemorrhagic fever — it causes severe bleeding, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea. It has a 21-day incubation period.
Like Ebola, the Marburg virus is also transmitted via contact with bodily fluids and fatality rates range from 25 to 80 percent.
The name of the disease comes from the city of Marburg in central Germany, where the virus was first identified in 1967 among workers who had been exposed to infected African green monkeys at a research lab.
