Pedro Makuto Nkondo | Luanda, Angola
/20 April 2005 02:31/
Angolan health officials said on Wednesday that the death toll from the Ebola-like Marburg virus is climbing still, reaching 239, but at a slower rate as more citizens are joining in a mass effort to stamp out the disease.
Out of 264 cases detected since October 13 in Angola, 239 people have died, with the overwhelming number of fatalities in the northern Uige province, where the death toll stands at 223, according to the health ministry and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
A total of 518 people are under observation, of whom 406 are in Uige, after coming in contact with the virus, which can kill a person within a week.
"This trend towards a reduction in cases and deaths is due to the strong mobilisation of the population in the province of Uige," said health ministry spokesperson Carlos Alberto.
"We can't say that we have absolute control of the Marburg disease as long as there is even one case in the country," said the WHO representative in Angola, Diallo Fatoumata Binta. "We must continue to work hard."
International health experts who converged on Angola in the wake of the outbreak have faced hostility and suspicion from the local population.
Teams of health workers who roam the city of Uige to find suspected cases of Marburg have been attacked by rock-throwing residents, and international officials have sought help from local leaders to dispel the hostility.
In Luanda, the United Nations Children's Fund enlisted Boy Scouts in a drive to distribute pamphlets telling Angolans about protective measures against the virus.
"Any person who has had contact with a case, including having slept in the same bed for a month, having had physical contact or touched the clothing or the bed linen or the bodily secretions, is contaminated," says the pamphlet.
"Household detergents, soap and water are useful disinfectants against the virus that causes viral haemorrhagic fever. Alcaline solutions must be prepared daily because they lose their potency after 24 hours," it said.
At Luanda's Catholic parish of Notre Dame of Fatima, brother Moises Lukondo said parishioners were upset when they first learned about Marburg, but that all is calm now.
"Every day, we try to explain to Christians how to fight the disease without rejecting people who come from the province of Uige, which is the epicentre of the virus," said Lukondo.
Television and radio advertisements are urging Angolans who fear they may have come in contact with Marburg to seek help from health professionals who hold daily information sessions.
"We have a doctor here in our church, Dr Bela Neto, who is giving us advice on how to cope with this disease," said Samuel Dadi Carlos, an official from a local Pentecostal church.
The Marburg virus can kill a healthy person in a week, causing diarrhoea and vomiting followed by severe internal bleeding.
The virus was first detected in 1967 when German laboratory workers in Marburg were infected by monkeys from Uganda.
Until now, the most serious outbreak of the disease was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 123 people died between 1998 and 2000. -- Sapa-AFP
_______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list Ugandanet@kym.net http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
