The Health Ministry has called on the public to remain calm, following the death of one person confirmed to have succumbed to the Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) on Sunday.
“Tests confirmed that one person from Entebbe died of Crimean-Congo fever on Sunday and was buried in Jinja. We call upon the public to remain calm as the situation is being handled by experts,” Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the Health Ministry Spokesperson told The Explorer on Sunday night.
Social media has been awash with misrepresentations that the country has been hit by Ebola, another epidemic with similar symptoms, which Ainebyoona confirms is false.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), CCHF, an endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asian countries south of the 50th parallel north, is a widespread viral disease caused by a tick-borne with a case fatality rate of 10–40%.
Risk Factors
The virus is primarily transmitted to people from wild, livestock animals such as cattle, sheep and goats and ticks. Human-to-human transmission can occur resulting from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons.
The CCHF virus is transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during and immediately after slaughter.
Human-to-human transmission can occur resulting from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons.
Hospital-acquired infections can also occur due to improper sterilization of medical equipment, reuse of needles and contamination of medical supplies.
According to World Health Organization, “There is no vaccine available for either people or animals.”
Signs and Symptoms
WHO says the most common symptoms is sudden fever, muscle ache, dizziness, neck pain and stiffness, backache, headache, sore eyes and photophobia (sensitivity to light).
Cure
CCHF currently has no safe and effective vaccine available for humans; therefore, the only way to reduce infection in people is by raising awareness of the risk factors and educating people about the measures they can take to reduce exposure to the virus.
The Ministry of Health registered the first ever outbreak of CCHF in August 2013 but successfully contained it.
