6 August 2007
Kampala — The Marburg virus outbreak in western Uganda that was confirmed on 30 July could have been contracted from a Colobus monkey, which was caught and skinned by two people, health officials said.
"We have so far gone 14 days since the first case and if 21 days elapse without any other case, then the outbreak would have passed," Sam Okware, commissioner for health services, said.
Okware added: "[The first victim] killed a Colobus monkey and skinned it with the help of the second person who also fell sick. We strongly suspect that this how he got infected.
"We have since established the whereabouts of the skin and have confiscated it. We shall take it to CDC [Centers for Disease Control] for further analysis."
Up to 150 people suspected to have had contact with the victims were being monitored. Uganda's health ministry had established isolation centres in both the main referral hospital of Mulago and at the clinic in Kamwenge where the victims are reported to have been working in a gold mine.
About 100 contacts have been isolated in Kamwenge - 50 in the mining camp and 50 in the neighbourhood - six of whom were 'serious' because they helped in skinning the animal, the health ministry said. Dozens more were being monitored in the capital, Kampala.
The Marburg virus is a rare but highly fatal haemorrhagic illness with epidemic potential, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The disease symptoms include severe diarrhoea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and chest and lung pains, often leading to severe haemorrhage in the gastrointestinal tract and lungs. Close contact with bodily fluids of infected people increases the risk of infection.
"Case investigations, including extensive contact tracing and contact monitoring are under way at the mine, at the healthcare facilities that cared for the men during their illness, and within the community," WHO said in a statement on 3 August.
The 29-year-old man who died was admitted to hospital on 7 July and died on 14 July. The disease was subsequently confirmed by laboratory diagnosis on 30 July.
"Appropriate isolation facilities, active case finding, enhanced surveillance, infection control, safe burial practices and social mobilisation activities have been put in place under the oversight of a national Task Force with high level political representation," WHO stated.
The worst ever outbreak of the disease, which appears to be geographically confined to a few countries in Africa, killed nearly 250 people in Angola in 2005. WHO, however, stated that there was no need, at the moment, to restrict travel or trade with Uganda.
The disease may be contracted from monkeys, but according to the WHO, animals and plants are generally not viable hosts. No animal reservoir or other environmental source of either virus has been identified despite years of intensive investigation involving the testing of hundreds of animals, insects and plants.
"Monkeys are susceptible to infection but are not considered viable reservoir hosts as virtually all infected animals die too rapidly to sustain survival of the virus," states the agency.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
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