The female aged 24, who resides in Pangisa Ward, Arua city, fell ill while working at the Elegu border, and when she reported to Arua Regional Referral Hospital, her samples were tested at Uganda Virus Research Institute and they turned positive on December 4th.
Arua City health
department is using bodaboda cyclists to help intensify the sensitization on
Mpox disease in the area.
This follows the tracing
of 52 individuals who came in contact with a person who tested positive for
Mpox.
Arua City received an
alert about a suspected Mpox case on November 29th.
The female aged 24, who
resides in Pangisa Ward, Arua city, fell ill while working at the Elegu border, and
when she reported to Arua Regional Referral Hospital, her samples were tested
at Uganda Virus Research Institute and they turned positive on December
4th.
Alias Mohammad, the
Health sub-district Surveillance officer, said the 52 contact cases are being
followed for any signs and symptoms.
Since the outbreak of
Mpox in Uganda Arua City has received 32 alerts of suspected cases, and 19 of
them met case definitions, were investigated, and one turned out positive.
Mohammad appealed to the
public to report any suspected cases of Mpox, for quick diagnosis and
management.
“In surveillance, any
rumour, any alert is very important, even if it's a false alert,” Mohammad said.
He listed the high-risk
areas within the city where the 52 contacts are coming from are; Oyoze Cell,
Kibir, Pajulu Alivu, Pangisa, Asuru, Olide and Oli D.
Bernard Amaga, the Arua
City Senior Health Educator, however, said all the villages within the central
division are densely populated, which means they are all high-risk areas, and
urged residents to strictly follow preventive measures to avoid contracting the
virus.
He explained that
currently, there is a low index of suspicion, yet there could be several people
with signs and symptoms.
//Cue in: “Almost all
villages…
Cue out: …at risk than
others.”//
Amaga revealed that they
have employed bodaboda riders, to help in passing the message on the dangers of
Mpox to their peers so that the information spreads faster.
The city health officials
will equip the boda bodas with vests or visibility jackets that have messages
that should be able to speak to the community about the risks of Mpox.
According to Amaga, a
group of 10-15 boda bodas is tasked to disseminate the basic message on Mpox
for a week, and another lot is recruited in the following week to intensify
risk communication and social mobilization to the communities.
//Cue in: “It is a short…
Cue out: …to the
communities.”//
Amaga revealed that the
city has also trained 100 of the 1,004 members of the Village Health Team, VHTs
in the city, to disseminate information on Mpox, identify suspected cases and
refer for management.
//Cue in: “The level of…
Cue out: …their colleague
VHTs.”//
Amaga appealed to all
residents of the city to live responsibly and avoid activities that predispose
them to contracting the virus, such as overindulgence in drinking alcohol,
having multiple sexual partners, and unregulated movements.
“We are aware that we are
coming to the Christmas period and this is a time when people move from one
place to another,” Amaga said.
Residents are also
advised to always wash their hands as one of the preventive measures. Amaga said hand washing
in the City has dropped to 22.5 percent after the peak of Covid-19.
“Now that we have Mpox, a
disease of contact, we need to ensure that people wash their hands most of the
time, especially when you are interfacing with somebody who has signs and
symptoms,” he added.
Uganda confirmed the
first case of Mpox on 24th July 2024 and has so far registered more than 900
cases, with 141 new cases, registered in the past 9 days. At least 56 districts
in the country have registered cases of the Mpox virus.
Mpox is a disease similar
to smallpox caused by a virus. It causes flu-like symptoms such as fever and
chills, and a rash that can take weeks to clear.
