Conan Businge
26 November 2007
Kampala — THE mysterious viral attack in the western district of Bundibugyo has killed one more person and infected another, according to the health officials.
This brings the death toll to 16 people out of the 47 infected from August.
The district medical officer, Dr. William Sikyewunda, said the deceased, Jere Muhindo, died on Saturday in Bundibugyo Hospital. "He was one of the two people that were infected last week."
Muhindo was the secretary of the NGO Forum in Bundibugyo.
Libbuma Muhindo, a relative to the deceased said he often visited the patients.
Sikyewunda added that the blood samples that were sent to South Africa and the Centre for Disease Control in the USA tested negative for viral hemorrhagic fevers. "We are still doing more investigations, and hopefully, we shall soon know what the disease is," he added.
Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are caused by viruses from four distinct families.
The diseases damage the vascular system and impair the body's ability to regulate itself. These symptoms are often accompanied by bleeding (hemorrhage) which is rarely life-threatening. Sikyewunda said they were taking precautionary strict measures to fully contain the spread of the disease.
These include spraying of the rooms "where the people die from, stopping traditional rites at burials and offering protective wear for the people involved in the burials."
He added that the sick are isolated from the public and the community was being sensitised about the disease. A fortnight ago, Dr.Sam Okware, the health ministry's commissioner of health services, confirmed that the deadly fever was not Marburg hemorrhagic.
The disease had so far been registered in Bundibugyo's 14 villages, bordering the DR Congo.
Officials from the Health Ministry said the patients died due to dehydration because of severe diarrhoea. "They complained of fever and abdominal pains."
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