Kampala cited in Kenya’s Mpox case travel history

Uganda’s Mpox response team have said they’re working with the Kenyan authorities to get details about the Mpox case in Kenya, a truck driver, who had a travel history to Kampala.

Dr Henry Kyobe, a government epidemiologist at the Health ministry, while commenting on a statement from Kenya’s Ministry of Health about the infected long-distance truck driver, said they’re yet to determine the actual place he could have got the infection.

“Transmission may not have even taken place in Uganda; could have happened anywhere including Kenya….we are working to get all the details from Kenyan authorities,” Dr Kyobe said yesterday. 
He said it’s hard to tell where he got the infection because the long-distance truck driver “has been to several countries” and “Mpox has an extended incubation period,” before the disease manifests.

Kenya’s Ministry of Health said on Saturday: “We continue to monitor the one confirmed case, who travelled from Kampala in Uganda to Mombasa, then to Rwanda through Taita Taveta and Tanzania. The case, a long-distance truck driver, is now back in Kenya. We are tracing all close contacts at his workplace, the hospital where he was admitted, and along his travel routes.”
This news comes about three days after the Health Ministry said they were bolstering their response to prevent the spread of the viral disease Mpox in Kasese District after they found two “imported cases” linked to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The ministry said on Friday that the samples were tested and confirmed by the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) for Mpox on July 24, 2024. 
Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director general for health services at the ministry said on Friday: “The imported cases were detected among six suspected cases at the Bwera border in Kasese District. Findings reveal that transmission did not take place in Uganda, and to date, no secondary transmission has been linked to the two cases.”

He continued: “The Ministry of Health has deployed a rapid response team to Kasese District to work with district teams to control the imported Mpox. So far, nine contacts are under follow-up. Uganda continues to monitor the evolving situation in the DRC, where cases have been reported in nearly all provinces, the latest being North Kivu, specifically in Goma. 

What is Mpox? 
Mpox, also known as monkeypox, is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, which is closely related to smallpox.”
Mpox can manifest with skin rash which can last up to four weeks; fever, general weakness, sore throat, headache, muscle pain, back pain, and swollen lymph nodes. But it is not as infectious as Covid-19, according to scientists. 

 According to the ministry, it can be prevented by avoiding physical contact with someone who has signs and symptoms of Mpox, not sharing clothes, bedding, or other personal items with infected persons, washing your hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser before and after touching sores/open wounds and vaccination.

Data from the WHO also indicates that in 2024 alone, as of May 26, up to 7,851 monkeypox cases were reported in the DRC, including 384 deaths of the infected people as the new variant of clade I MPXV spreads. The disease is also prevalent in America and Europe, according to available data.