Africa: Ugandan health workers react quickly to suspected death of Ebola

Photo: John Wessels

Health care workers kiss while putting on their personal protective equipment before traveling to the red zone of Bunia, DR Congo (photo of the archives).

Ugandan health workers reacted quickly to respond to an alleged case of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the body repatriated to Uganda by relatives for burial.

The 46-year-old man lives and works in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for eight years. He developed symptoms similar to those of Ebola and pbaded away on Friday, February 8, 2019. He was admitted for the first time to Bunia Hospital in November 2018, complaining about the effects of Ebola. chest pain and cough sometimes with blood. His condition however deteriorated last week and until his death at Bunia Hospital. The hospital issued a medical certificate of death and was handed over to the family by the hospital morgue.

Thirteen people from Tororo fetched the body and crossed the Padea / Karombo border checkpoint in Zombo district to go to Tororo. They used the death certificate to cross the border and other checkpoints along the way. Their data has been collected and these people are currently separated from the rest of the community.

Last night, the Ministry of Health was informed of this incident and, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), immediately followed the various routes and managed to locate the vehicle with the corpse and relatives of DRC before returning to their village in Petta sub-county. in the Tororo district. Subsequently, the department sent a burial team with a surveillance officer who took an oral swab, performed a verbal autopsy, and who will later perform a burial with dignity and dignity. dignity.

While lab results are expected, the ministry has collected more information about the deceased. He has been in DRC Congo for 8 years for construction work. He returned to the DRC last July. He became ill in November, was admitted to the Bunia Hospital and died on February 8, 2019. His hospital death certificate states that the cause of death is heart failure and pulmonary tuberculosis. .

The ministry and the WHO are also in contact with the doctor who signed the death certificate at Bunia hospital and he confirmed the signing of the death certificate. The Ugandan medical badociation, the surveillance team and the border health workers responded quickly by reporting the case to the staff concerned for immediate follow-up.

"The immediate denunciation by the AMU and the swift action of health workers as it was exposed last night during this incident is what determines the speed with which we react and we fight I urge other Ugandans to take this as an example The case of EVD, "said Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldermariam, WHO Representative in Uganda.

At the present time, there is NO confirmed case of Ebola virus disease in Uganda. Active case finding continues in all communities, health facilities and at official and informal border posts in all districts, especially in high-risk areas. Alert cases continue to be collected, isolated, processed and blood samples collected for testing by the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI).