Uganda is now among the top three countries in Africa, after Burundi and DR Congo with the highest of confirmed mpox cases. The country recorded 45 new cases last week, bringing the total of confirmed cases to 175 since late July when two cases of the viral disease were for the first time picked from Kasese district along the Uganda – DRC border.
While speaking to editors at a meeting held on Monday, Dr Daniel Kyabayinze the Director of Public Health in the Ministry of Health said they have since had cases sprout out in 20 districts. Kampala has had the highest number of cases at 75, followed by Nakasongola with 33 and Waksio with 24 cases.
Kyabayinze warned that with many of these cases, they can’t exactly trace contacts or lines of transmission but what they have confirmed is that many of the victims got infected through sexual contact.
However, the ministry reveals that 90% of the confirmed have since been discharged but one lady from Masindi district succumbed to the disease caused by the monkeypox virus.
Calling for vigilance by both the public and health workers, Dr Immaculate Atuhairwe who is in charge of Operations for the mpox response at the World Health Organisation Uganda office said they have had confirmed cases that had previously reported to health facilities up to five times but were being missed and treated for other infections such as malaria.
She explains that this mishap could have been caused by the fact that in some individuals the skin lesions tend to appear much later after sufferers have expressed other symptoms such as swelling of the lymph nodes, fevers and joint pain. Unfortunately, she says even without the lesions, an infected person can still spread the disease to their contacts.
Tabley Basajjatebadiba, a Risk Communication Officer in the Ministry of Health said that as the cases continue increasing they are refocusing their approach and will soon start vaccinating key populations including health workers and sex workers.
Already, the Africa Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has announced a donation of up to 2000 doses of the vaccine to Uganda.
