Ugandan health worker dies from Marburg Marburg hemorrhagic fever, a highly infectious disease related to Ebola, has killed a health worker in Uganda, according to news sources today. The man, a 30-year-old hospital radiographer in the city of Kampala, presented with a headache and abdominal pain that progressed to diarrhea and vomiting blood before his death Sep 28, says an Associated Press (AP) story. Marburg was confirmed later by laboratory tests. The mans brother is in isolation with signs of disease, says a story from Xinhua, Chinas news agency, and 80 contacts of the index case, more than 60 of whom are health workers and the remainder involved in his burial, are being monitored for signs and symptoms. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has urged citizens to remain calm but vigilant, to avoid shaking hands, and to report suspicious cases, reports the AP. Uganda has seen several outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) and experienced an Ebola outbreak in 2000 that killed at least 224, according to the AP story. Ugandan health officials say the experience gained during containment of that and other Ebola outbreaks will aid the country in managing Marburg if it spreads, according to Xinhua. Marburg was last seen in Uganda in 2012. Both Ebola virus and Marburg virus are in the Filoviridae family. Although the illnesses have some shared characteristics (see CIDRAP VHF overview), Elioda Tumwesigye, Ugandas minister of state for health, claims there is no connection between the ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa and Ugandas Marburg outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Medecins Sans Frontieres have dispatched assistance, says Xinhua. Oct 6 AP story Oct 6 Xinhua story
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 05:21:09 +0000
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