Plague outbreak leaves nine people dead in north-western Uganda

Kampala - Nine people died and 15 others were hospitalized following an outbreak of pneumonic plague early February in a district in north-western Uganda, health officials confirmed Wednesday. The health ministry has despatched emergency drug supplies and is warning the public in the Masindi district to report any suspected cases of plague, a disease caused by bacteria carried by fleas, which are also transmitted by rats. The sick have been taken to the area's government hospital of Kiryandongo, about 200 kilometres north-west of the Ugandan capital Kampala. 'Yes, the disease is affecting people in Masindi district. It is pneumonic plague. On the 2nd of this month, a child fell sick and died three days later. Afterwards, other people started getting sick and nine have so far died. We have set up an emergency response programme to manage the disease,' the commissioner for health services in the ministry, Dr Sam Okware told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The disease which either infects the lungs, blood or lymph glands is fatal if left untreated. The ministry has also warned the public to put in place flea control measures and destroy rats in the affected areas. Outbreaks of plague have killed hundreds of people in Uganda's plague-prone West Nile region since the 1920s. According to Dr Okware, the first casualty of the disease in Masindi district came from that region. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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okot kenneth ayolli, Public health StudentNov 18th, 2007 - 17:19:57

The need to destroy the rats was necessary but the biggest controversy is in interdependency rule of life! Does it mean all the rats should be killed, or we should kill only the infected ones? Definitely we need to save life and the best way is to act fast and prevention is better than cure.
Any reply can be sent to
kenok22@yahoo.com

Kenneth okot Ayolli,
Department of public health,
School of Health Science,
Mountains of the moon university
Fort portal Uganda,
www.mmu.ac.ug

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Plague outbreak leaves nine people dead in north-western Uganda

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