ebola - The African Mirror

May

2023

African scientists are working to pool data that decodes diseases – a giant step

INFECTIOUS disease outbreaks in African countries are, unfortunately, all too common. Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Uganda; Marburg virus in Guinea or Equatorial Guinea; cholera in Malawi; malaria and tuberculosis are among them. These diseases do not respect human-made or porous borders. So it’s essential that scientists in Africa are able to generate and share critical data on the pathogens in time to inform public-health decisions. Authors ALAN CHRISTOFFELS, Director South African National Bioinformatics Institute, University of the Western Cape SOFONIAS KIFLE TESSEMA, Program Lead for Pathogen Genomics at the Africa CDC Genomic sequencing technologies are…

Feb

2023

By The African Mirror

Equatorial Guinea confirms country’s first Marburg virus disease outbreak -WHO

HEALTH

EQUATORIAL Guinea has confirmed its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious and deadly disease similar to Ebola, following the deaths of at least nine people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. The small Central African country quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement last week in its Kie-Ntem province after detecting an unknown hemorrhagic fever. Neighboring Cameroon also restricted movement along its border over concerns about contagion. In addition to the nine deaths, Equatorial Guinea has reported 16 suspected cases of Marburg virus with symptoms including fever, fatigue and blood-stained vomit and diarrhoea, the WHO said.…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Ebola: Uganda’s schools were closed for two years during COVID, now they face more closures – something must change

EDUCATION

CHILDREN in Uganda missed out on more schools because of the COVID pandemic than their peers anywhere else in the world. An estimated 15 million pupils in the East African nation did not attend school for 83 weeks – that’s almost two years. Statistical models predict a learning deficit of 2.8 years in Uganda because of the time lost through COVID-related closures. Authors SIMONE DATZBERGER, Assistant Professor in Education and International Development, UCL MUSENZE JUNIOR BRIAN, PhD Fellow, Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University Now the education system has been hit by another public health emergency. In early November…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Uganda shortens school term by two weeks to curb Ebola

NEWS

ELIAS BIRYABAREMA UGANDA will shorten the school term by two weeks to reduce daily contact among students and help curb the spread of Ebola, the education minister said. Authorities have been struggling to contain the highly infectious and deadly haemorrhagic fever since the epidemic spilt into the capital Kampala, home to around two million people. As of Monday, the country had recorded a total of 135 confirmed cases and 53 deaths, according to the health ministry. Education minister Janet Kataha Museveni said the cabinet had taken a decision to close pre-schools, primary schools and secondary schools on November 25, because…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Ebola in Uganda: lessons from COVID show that heavy-handed lockdowns may be a bad idea

HEALTH

SINCE the first case of the current Ebola outbreak in Uganda was confirmed in mid-September, the number of cases has topped 127 across seven districts, including 17 in the capital city Kampala. Yet most people living in the city fear another round of lockdowns perhaps even more than they fear becoming infected. Two high-risk districts are already under a 21-day lockdown. And although the government says it is not considering Kampala high risk at the moment, it has not shied away from using the “threat” of lockdowns to try to persuade people to conform to the health procedures. These include…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

Uganda says two new Ebola cases confirmed in Kampala hospital

NEWS

TWO more people in an isolation unit of Uganda's main hospital have tested positive for Ebola, bringing the total cases recorded in the facility to five, the health minister said. The five confirmed cases in Kampala are the first known transmission of the virus in the city, coming days after the information ministry said the country's Ebola outbreak was coming under control and was expected to be over by the end of the year. Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said on Saturday that three patients among 60 people in isolation at Kampala's Mulago Hospital tested positive for the disease a day earlier. She had…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

Serum Institute to produce Ebola vaccine for use in Uganda outbreak

NEWS

AARON ROSS THE Serum Institute of India plans to manufacture 20,000 to 30,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine by the end of November for use in trials against an outbreak in Uganda, its developers and a company source said. The response to Uganda's outbreak has been blunted by the absence of a proven vaccine against the Sudan strain of the virus. There have been 54 confirmed cases and 19 deaths since last month and the first case in the capital, Kampala, was recorded last week. But health authorities believe the actual numbers could be higher. Vaccines against the more common Zaire…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

EBOLA: Uganda introduces lockdown measures to halt spread

HEALTH

UGANDA President Yoweri Museveni said the government was implementing an overnight curfew, closing places of worship and entertainment, and restricting movement into and out of two districts affected by Ebola for 21 days. The measures aimed at curbing the spread of the disease will be introduced immediately in Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda, the epicentre of the epidemic, he said in a televised national address. "These are temporary measures to control the spread of Ebola. We should all cooperate with authorities so we bring this outbreak to an end in the shortest possible time," Museveni said. Museveni said…

Mar

2022

By The African Mirror

The coronavirus in Nigeria has its own family history: keeping track is vital

COVID-19

NIGERIA recorded its first case of SARS-CoV-2 on 27 February 2020, and within five months at least one case had been reported in all states across the country. Author OLUBUSUYI MOSES ADEWUMI, Virologist , University of Ibadan By 11 March 2020, SARS-CoV-2 had infected over 100,000 people in at least 100 countries. The World Health Organisation consequently declared it a pandemic. Building on the success of Nigeria’s response to Ebola, the Nigerian government immediately activated a national Incident Control Centre. This was to enable routine surveillance, diagnosis, and prompt reporting of COVID-19 cases. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control swiftly…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

Feared and forgotten, Congo’s Ebola orphans work to survive

HUMAN RIGHTS

KAHINDO SIFA BAHATI SINCE Ebola killed her parents in 2019, Congolese teenager Patience has done various jobs to provide for her three younger siblings, from warehouse work to washing clothes for neighbours. Her mother's dream was for all of the children to finish school, but the oldest three had to drop out and find work after their parents died during the Democratic Republic of Congo's 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak - the country's deadliest on record. "Since our parents died, we don't miss any opportunities to make money," 16-year-old Patience said in the eastern city of Butembo, the epicentre of the Ebola…