In Case you skipped Africia today . - Event Date: October 24 2006

Plague, bubonic, fatal

Archive Number 20070328.1064
Published Date 28-MAR-2007
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Plague, bubonic, fatal - Tanzania (Manyara)



PLAGUE, BUBONIC, FATAL - TANZANIA (MANYARA)
*******************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

Date: Wed 28 Mar 2007
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: IPP Media, Guardian report [edited]
<http://www.ippmedia.com/ipp/guardian/2007/03/28/87237.html>


At least 8 people have died of plague in Endoji Village, Mbulu
District, in Manyara Region. The deadly disease is spread by rodents,
which have multiplied in large numbers in the area. The Mbulu
District Medical Officer, Dr John Gulisha, confirmed that 8 people
had died of the disease since 28 Feb 2007, when the 1st case was reported.

Despite the fact that medical reports indicate that only 8 people,
mainly children, had died of the disease, impeccable sources in the
village maintained that the death toll stood at 15 people.

Dr. Gulisha said symptoms of the ailment include swellings under the
armpits, high fever, and body fatigue.

Since the beginning of January 2007, rodents have invaded some
villages in Mbulu District. The situation deteriorated when villagers
started killing the rats. As more rats got killed and were discarded
at random, the bacterium [_Yersinia pestis_] that causes the disease
spread out quickly [through its flea vector - Mod.LL], causing more
infection to people, especially among children.

Dr. Gulisha said efforts had been made to control the spread of the
disease, including communicating with the Sokoine University of
Agriculture in Morogoro and the Ministry of Health and Social
Welfare. He called on villagers to cooperate with medical experts by
keeping their surroundings clean and avoiding arbitrary killing of
rats, because the practice [produced] a breeding ground of the epidemic.

[Byline: Charles Masayanyika]

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[The description of symptoms suggests that the illness is bubonic
plague spread from rodent fleas. It may appear paradoxical that
killing of the rodents would cause more human cases, but the death of
rodents (either an epizooic or man-related extermination) will
produce infected and hungry fleas looking for a blood meal. If no
rodents are available, humans will do. The number of deaths is
reported (either 8 or 15) but no denominator of the total number of
cases of plague is given. Untreated bubonic plague has a case
fatality rate of 50-60 percent.

Most of the _Yersinia pestis_ reports that ProMED-mail has posted
from Africa have been from Congo DR and Uganda, although Tanzania
had one of the world's highest incidence rates in the 1980s. The
Manyara region of northeastern Tanzania can be found on a map at:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manyara_Region>. It is bordered on the
east by Tanga region, which includes Lushoto district where 64
suspected cases were reported in 1999 up to 22 Sep, with 2 deaths --
see 1999 ProMED archive below - Mod.LL/JW]

[see also:
Plague - Uganda (Masindi) (03): pneumonic 20070309.0835
Plague - Uganda (Masindi): pneumonic 20070301.0725
Undiagnosed deaths - Uganda (Masindi): RFI 20070227.0698
2006
----
Plague, pneumonic - Congo DR (Orientale) (03): WHO 20061108.3208
Plague, pneumonic - Uganda (Arua) 20061020.3022
Plague, pneumonic - Congo DR (Orientale) (02) 20061015.2964
Plague, pneumonic - Congo DR (Orientale): susp., RFI 20061004.2837
Plague, pneumonic - Congo DR (Ituri) (05): susp., RFI 20060929.2786
Plague, pneumonic - Congo DR (Ituri) 20060614.1650
2005
----
Undiagnosed deaths - Congo DR (Maniema) (08): pneumonic plague susp
20050905.2625

   

Looking for BF info in Uganda ??? No animal culls only children again . bastards .... Which official will you believe ..... None   ... me too ....

Source: Reuters Foundation

Date: 30 Mar 2007
Save Charity says Uganda army raid killed 66 children
By Francis Kwera

KAMPALA, March 30 (Reuters) - A British charity said on Friday it had information 66 children had been killed in an operation by Ugandan soldiers against cattle rustlers, but the Ugandan army denied the report.

Save the Children said it met 256 people whose accounts indicated the children were shot by troops, run over by armoured cars or crushed as animals stampeded during the February 12 raid in Kotido district, in remote northeastern Karamoja region.

A Ugandan military spokesman denied any children had died.

The charity said it had not found "specific physical evidence" of the alleged killings, but said the numerous and consistent reports from locals demanded serious attention.

"Reports of children being killed in indiscriminate, illegal and inhumane ways is absolutely devastating," its Uganda country director, Valter Tinderholt, said in a statement.

"Such allegations must be fully investigated and those involved brought to account."

Lieutenant ******* Obbo, the Ugandan army spokesman for the region, rejected the report.

"We discovered a hidden herd of thousands of stolen cattle. We went after them and the herdsmen -- hardcore adult criminals -- opened fire and we pursued them," Obbo told Reuters.

ARMY DENIES

He said the cattle rustlers had taken to dressing in women's clothes or school uniforms to dupe military patrols.

"We never targeted children at any time," he said.

Save the Children said any probe should be led by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour and followed closely by a contact group of diplomats based in Uganda.

Last November, the U.N. children's charity UNICEF accused Uganda's military of using "indiscriminate and excessive" force in Karamoja, and of killing women and children.

The drought-prone region has suffered banditry and inter-clan warfare for decades, fuelled by disputes over shrinking water supplies and a flood of cheap, semi-automatic weapons trafficked from conflicts in the Horn of Africa.

Cattle rustlers regularly raid villages throughout the pastoral area, looting valuable livestock and often leaving a trail of dead bodies. Last year, troops backed by helicopter gunships launched a forceful disarmament programme in the area.

But the conflict has worsened, and aid agencies say clashes between Karamojong clans and with pastoralists in neighbouring Kenya have left the region one of Africa's least developed.

The army said more than 50 cattle rustlers and four soldiers were killed in February in a sharp escalation of the fighting.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6ZS4R3?OpenDocument

He said those transporting sick people must use other alternative means such as bicycles to avoid the spread of CBPP to his chiefdom.
                  They won't get to the hospital now......   

   
Zambia News Agency -
Chief Macha bans ox-drawn scotch carts ferrying the sick to hospital
Choma, April 1, 2007, ZANIS-----Villagers from Chief Chikanta's area in Kalomo who transport sick people using ox-drawn scotch carts to Macha hospital will no longer be allowed to transit through chief Macha's area. This is due to the ban in the movement of cattle by the veterinary department to the outbreak of the Contagious Bovine Pleural Pneumonia, CBPP. Chief Macha told his subjects to ensure that no cattle from Kalomo district is allowed to pass through the area. He said those transporting sick people must use other alternative means such as bicycles to avoid the spread of CBPP to his chiefdom. The chief gave the directive during a meeting addressed by acting Choma district commissioner Mungoni Simulilika at his palace. This was after the villagers wanted to know whether people using ox-drawn scotch carts to ferry the sick to hospital should be exempted from the ban. Choma district livestock officer Jacob Bothma told the villagers not to allow any animals from another district as doing so would expose their cattle to the deadly CBPP which has so far killed a number of cattle especially in Kazungula district. ZANIS/CM/BMK/ENDS
http://www.upi.com/AfricaMonitoring/view.php?StoryID=20070401-379002-3281-r

Uganda ....


Source: Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET)

Date: 06 Apr 2007
FEWS Uganda Food Security Watch 6 Apr 2007 - IDPs in flux; livestock disease hits Karamoja
Northern Uganda’s IDPs in transition; livestock disease strikes Karamoja

Widespread food insecurity continues in northern Uganda, where at least 1.4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in a state of transition amid uncertain civil security. In Karamoja, poor harvests have left 500,000 people dependent on food assistance. Meanwhile, disease is quickly spreading among the region’s sheep and goats, but no concerted response has been made. The World Food Programme (WFP) is currently feeding food insecure groups in both Northern Uganda and Karamoja through its Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation (PRRO), but expects a break in the pipeline later this month.

In northern Uganda, IDPs have begun moving closer to their homes of origin; some now drift between camps and new return sites. IDPs who have moved out of the camps report that access to cultivable areas near the return sites has improved. However, district officials and humanitarian agencies are concerned that IDPs are losing access to land around the camps, as it is increasingly being reclaimed by host communities. Planting in both areas is expected to start as soon as the rains, so far delayed, begin. Humanitarian conditions remain poor, and many IDPs still have only limited access to basic services such as water, sanitation and healthcare. Full implementation of the northern Uganda peace process, slated to resume this month, is vital for long-term improvements in food security.



In Karamoja, poor harvests have left at least 500,000 people in need of food assistance. Karamoja’s harvests last season were poor, and the region’s markets have had to import grains from neighboring districts, including Soroti and Mbale. These grains are sold at a higher price than that at which local cereals are normally sold. Although terms of trade between livestock and cereals has been favorable for pastoralists, more than half of the households in Karamoja have no livestock to sell or exchange for grains. These households depend instead on limited labor opportunities, including stone quarrying, collecting wood-fuel and poles to sell, gathering wild berries, vegetables and honey as well as hunting small animals.

An outbreak of highly contagious Pest des Petits Ruminants (PPR), a viral disease attacking sheep and goats, has been reported in Kaabong, Kotido and Moroto districts. Veterinarians first reported the disease in Kotido district on March 21, where it has reportedly killed up to two-thirds of the animals in some areas. The disease spreads quickly in large flocks and herds, but can be devastating for poor households relying on only a small number of animals for food and income. The disease is spreading fast and may have crossed into other districts with small-livestock trade. The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and district officials are still assessing the situation to determine the magnitude of the problem, and no control or treatment measures are yet in place. While necessary, control measures will inevitably limit the income-earning potential for households raising small livestock.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RMOI-723KGU?OpenDocument

    

A little Info On Lassa Fever

Progression of Lassa fever

The disease is insidious in onset and is characterized by fever, myalgia, severe backache, malaise and headache. A transient maculopapular rash may be present. A sore throat, pharyngitis and lymphadenopathy occur in over 50% of patients. In severe cases epistaxis and gastrointestinal bleeding may oc*********.............


What is Lassa fever
Lassa fever is a disease of the blood, liver and spleen.

Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever.



Statistics Summary of Lassa fever
This illness was first documented in the town of Lassa, Nigeria, in 1969 and is confined to sub-Saharan West Africa (Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone). Only 10-30% of infections are symptomatic.



Predisposing Factors of Lassa fever
Mastomys natalensis (rat) is the reservoir of the disease. Humans are infected by eating foods contaminated by rat saliva or urine containing the virus. There is also human-to-human spread by body fluids.



Progression of Lassa fever
The disease is insidious in onset and is characterized by fever, myalgia, severe backache, malaise and headache. A transient maculopapular rash may be present. A sore throat, pharyngitis and lymphadenopathy occur in over 50% of patients. In severe cases epistaxis and gastrointestinal bleeding may occur.



Probable Outcomes of Lassa fever
Death occurs in 15-20% of hospitlised patients, usually from irreversible hypovolaemic shock, but most patients recover within a month. If left untreated, the mortality rate approaches 50%.

http://www.virtualinfectioncentre.com/diseases.asp?did=111