Photo: New Vision Kampala — Four more patients suspected to be suffering from Ebola have died as 14 new cases are also currently isolated in wards at Kagadi and Mulago hospitals.
This brings the death toll to 18 in the country's third massive wave of Ebola outbreaks in the last one decade.
The first was in Gulu in 2000, followed by that in Bundibugyo in 2007 where hundreds of people died and others were infected.
Medical authorities were also Tuesday investigating a suspected Ebola case in Mbarara. The case was placed under isolation.
The patients who died on Monday all from Kibaale were identified as Susan Nabulya from Burunzi village, the first patient to be admitted at Kagadi hospital, five-year-old Nicholas Asingwire (Kenga village), 12-year-old Kato (Nyamarunda village) and Frediano Nsabimaana of Nyamugusa village in Bwamiramira sub-county.
Another 11 new suspected Ebola patients were Tuesday admitted at Kagadi hospital in Kibaale and three others in Mulago hospital in Kampala.
The number of suspected cases at Kagadi hospital has reached 18, which puts the total suspected cases at Kagadi and Mulago to 21.
The three admitted in Mulago are also from Kibaale district; a four-year old boy, his mother and uncle, according to the deputy executive director, Dr. Doreen Male.
However, the health ministry in a statement issued Tuesday said there were 18 patients in Kagadi hospital, of whom three are confirmed to have contracted Ebola.
The health ministry's surveillance team in Kibaale, according to the statement, is, "actively and closely monitoring 40 people who are suspected to have got in contact with the dead."
"These contacts have not shown any signs of the disease but will be monitored for 21 days," said the statement, adding that after 21 days, they will be declared Ebola-free if no signs are detected.
Kibaale district health officer, Dr. Dan Kyamanywa said that the new suspected Ebola patients were picked from Kagadi town council and the sub-counties of Nyamarunda, Burora, Bwamiramira, Kyaterekera and Muhorro.
The patients, however, on Tuesday protested being poorly fed at the hospital.
One of the patients forced his way out of the isolation ward, as the others caused commotion and were calmed by the police, local and district leaders.
"It is true that we do not have money to feed these patients, but we are making arrangements to get money and buy them food," one of the health officials said on condition of anonymity.
Dr. Kyamanywa said the Medicines Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders) had donated plampenats (packed foods) for the patients. But patients had refused to eat the food.
The chief administrative officer of Kibaale, Emmanuel Ssenoga said that the district has not received any funds since the financial year started.
Meanwhile, hotlines have been created for all people to call, in case they suspect anyone to be infected with the disease.
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PRESS RELEASE July 19, 2012, 8:31 a.m. EDT Sarepta's Ebola Virus Drug Shows Survival in Primates Despite Delayed Treatment Drug Shows 100% and 83% Survival When Administered 48-Hours and 96-Hours Post-Infection
CAMBRIDGE, MA, Jul 19, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. SRPT -4.22% , a developer of first-in-class RNA-based therapeutics, announced today that its lead therapeutic drug candidate for the Marburg virus, AVI-7288, demonstrated up to 100% survival in a non-human primate (NHP) study exploring the drug's effect when treatment is delayed to various time points post-infection. The study demonstrated a significantly higher rate of survival among NHPs treated with AVI-7288 compared to the placebo-treated group when treatment was administered up to 96-hours post infection. Sarepta is conducting this work under a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contract managed by the Joint Project Manager Transformational Medical Technologies (JPM-TMT) Project Management Office, a component of the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (JPEO-CBD).
"These results are unprecedented and demonstrate a compelling proof of concept with our PMOplus(R) chemistry platform and its ability to treat the most lethal and fast-acting viruses, without compromising efficacy of survival even after up to a four-day delay in the initiation of treatment," said Chris Garabedian, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sarepta Therapeutics. "These results represent a significant advancement toward the protection of our service members and the civilian population in the event of a bioterrorist attack. Extending the window of opportunity for effective medical intervention against lethal infections may translate to more lives saved."
This study showed a high degree of survival between 83% and 100% in each of four post-exposure cohorts that received daily treatments with AVI-7288 beginning one-, 24-, 48-, or 96-hours after infection, compared to 0% survival in the placebo-treated control group. Currently at Day 27, the study will continue to monitor the surviving non-human primates until study termination at Day 41.
The work is a collaborative effort between Sarepta and scientists at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the DoD's leading medical research laboratory for biological defense, which has the DoD's only maximum containment, or Biosafety Level 4, capability.
If the hospitals do not have money to buy food for the (few) patients then there is no money for their proper treatment. I would assume that containing the spread of Ebola and detecting its presence require the health authorities to spend money that they might not have. If Uganda does not have the resources to address this wave of Ebola it should ask for assistance.