Leaders in Arua district have cautioned the public to be vigilant following an outbreak of yellow fever in the region.
Kassiano Wadri the MP for Arua Municipality has urged residents to take precautionary measures to avoid contracting yellow fever that has been recently confirmed in the West Nile and Bullisa sub-regions.
This follows the death of an 80 year -old woman identified as Batreru a resident of Adongoro Ward in Nyadri Town council that tested positive for the disease at a hospital in Maracha district on Saturday.
Yellow fever is a hemorrhagic condition that can lead to a high fever, bleeding into the skin, and cell death in the liver and kidneys. If enough liver cells die, liver damage occurs, leading to jaundice, a condition in which the skin takes on a yellowish color.
In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains particularly in the back, and headaches, which tend to improve within five days.
The virus is transmitted by mosquitos, mainly the Aedes and Haemogogus species.
So far, Yellow fever has already claimed the lives of two people in Moyo district both are males aged 18 and 21 years. and left four other infected since its outbreak three weeks ago.
The two cases were dealing with cutting and trading timber between Uganda and South Sudan. On 2 January 2020, the two cases traveled from South Sudan to Moyo.
In Buliisa, there are also two confirmed cases. A 37-year old male and his 38-year old wife. The husband was a cattle farmer trading in milk between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
On 31 October 2019, he visited Buliisa Hospital with a headache, vomiting, and abdominal pain and received supportive treatment.
The health ministry also dispatched the Entomologists’ to the area a week ago.
Entomologists study insects’ habitats and how insects evolve. They also develop ways to control harmful insects. They research and control insect-borne diseases, and discover and study new species of insects.
Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu, the state minister for primary health care called for calm among the people of West Nile and Bulisa district.
In January, the Ministry of Health has requested for the Yellow Fever vaccines from the International Coordination Group that manages Global Stockpiles of Yellow Fever and Meningitis vaccines.
Kaducu revealed that the government has already approved 1.8 million doses of Yellow fever vaccine which will soon be rolled out to West Nile districts and Bulisa in the Bunyoro sub-region.
