Prime
Govt issues SOPs after global alert on Mpox
Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng addresses Parliament on August 15, 2024. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Statistics from the ministry indicate that to date a total of 42 samples have been collected from suspect cases and sent to Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRl) for testing and “have all tested negative by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)”.
The Ministry of Health has called for increased vigilance and prompt reporting of individuals with Mpox-like symptoms following the World Health Organization’s declaration that the disease surge constitutes a public health emergency.
Mpox is a self-limiting viral disease which presents with pustules or small boils on the skin. It is also associated with high-grade fever, swelling of lymph nodes, headache and general body weakness.
While addressing Parliament yesterday, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health minister, said since the beginning of the year, more than 17,000 Mpox cases and more than 500 deaths have been reported in 13 countries in Africa, citing data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Dr Aceng said the highest number of cases - more than 14,000 - is in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which reported 96 percent of confirmed cases this month.
She said the other East African countries that have reported Mpox transmission are Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda with Burundi having secondary transmission.
On the cases that were detected in Uganda in July, Dr Aceng said: “The two individuals were admitted and treated in Bwera hospital and have since recovered and been discharged with no complications. This is the first time Mpox has been confirmed in Uganda. Since then, no new cases linked to the two cases have been confirmed in Kasese District or Uganda.”
Statistics from the ministry indicate that to date a total of 42 samples have been collected from suspect cases and sent to Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRl) for testing and “have all tested negative by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)”.
Details from the ministry also show that genetic analysis of the virus from the confirmed cases is linked to the Mpox of DRC, the Mpxv clade 1b (variant).
However, the minister said the discharge of the two patients and the negative test results do not mean the country is out of danger.
Dr Aceng said there will be no travel restrictions over Mpox even after the global public health emergency declaration by WHO and the Africa CDC.
“It is important to note that; Mpox transmission in eastern DRC is expanding rapidly with a new epicentre in North Kivu that is adjacent to Uganda. This happens amidst our regular cross-border human interactions between our two countries for trade, culture and social reasons,” Dr Aceng said.
