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Uganda: Ministry Issues Polio Alert
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New Vision (Kampala)
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 1 May 2008
Anne Mugisa
Kampala
TWO years after Uganda was declared free of the Polio virus, the re-emergence of the disease has been reported in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
The health ministry has warned of a possible reoccurrence of Polio after it confirmed a case in the Congolese district of Rutschuru in Northern Kivu Province which borders Kanungu district in western Uganda.
According to the ministry, Uganda has been free from the Wild Polio Virus since 1996 and was certified free of it in October 2006.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Sam Zaramba, warned residents of eight other districts in the western region to be on the lookout.
These are Kisoro, Rukungiri, Kabale, Kasese, Bundibugyo, Ntungamo, Mbarara and Bushenyi.
He attributed the threat to the porous DRC/Uganda border where there is free movement of people from either side and the infected people could carry the disease into Uganda.
The ministry called for accelerated routine immunisation countrywide to close the immunity gap which it said had been created in the past few months "due to some challenges."
The statement said an infected child shows fever followed by weakness in the limbs.
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Zaramba directed district health officers in the virus-prone areas to plan for supplementary immunisation in June/July.
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