Mysterious Disease kills 100 people in Rakai
A strange killer disease has struck the District of Rakai in South Uganda,
killing at least
100 people in ten months. The victims of the disease, locally called SLIM,
are youths
aged between 15 to 36 years. The worst hit area is Kyebe-Kannebulemu
sub-county.
Hardly a fortnight passes without a death of one or more young men or women.
Mourning is everywhere and several people I met wear dejected faces, carry
heavy hearts
and are living in great fear.
The disease has so far not responded to any treatment. All patients taken to
various
hospitals have died. Investigations I made here indicated that the disease
has been
prevalent in the district for over a year now. The disease, which started at
Kyebe-
Kannebulemu, has now spread to Kyotera Township and Kooki.
A common characteristic about this disease is that all victims have at one
time or another
been associated with the lucrative border trade between Uganda and Tanzania.
Once one
has contracted it, one experiences intermittent fits of vomiting, diarrhoea,
preceded and
accompanied by fever, high temperatures and profuse perspiration. Despite
treatment of
whatever nature, the condition persists. Gradually, the victim loses weight
and
progressively gets so emaciated that within a fortnight or month, he is
reduced to mere
skin-on-bones with eyes nakedly sticking out of fleshless sockets. The sick
young person
miserably and desperately awaits the imminent and inevitable end death.
Although
several people have consulted professional doctors, all people I talked to
said they have
completely failed to get a remedy for this killer disease.
In the last six months alone, more than 40 people have died. Some families
have lost more
than one of their youth. To mention but a few of those families, Laurio
Nnoba of Kinyiga
village lost two twin sons aged 32 and another son following them. Ferdinand
Kagezi of
Balole village has lost two sons and a daughter-in-law; Karko Kasujju of
Gwanda village
has lost two sons, and recently three cases, namely Muluba, Bukenya and
Nsamba were
reportedly taken to Mulago Hospital, Kampala.
The people I interviewed appealed to the government, especially the Ministry
of Health,
to immediately embark on a plan to save the families of Rakai District
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
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