Uganda clears 3 experimental Ebola treatments: authorities
‘Border is very porous’
KAMPALA, June 18, (Agencies): Health workers have got the allclear to use three experimental Ebola treatments in Uganda, a week after the deadly disease spread over the border from Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said on Tuesday.
Two people who had travelled from Congo died in Uganda last week, the World Health Organization said. A three-yearold boy who was sent back to Congo after testing positive for the disease died at the weekend, Congo’s health ministry said.
At least another 1,411 people have died in Congo since August in the second worst outbreak of the disease on record.
“Happy to inform you all that we got clearance from both Uganda National Council for Science and Technology and National Drug Authority to bring in the Therapeutic treatment for #Ebola patients in the country,” Uganda’s Health Minister, Jane Ruth Aceng, said on Twitter.
The treatments approved for shipment to Uganda were Mapp Biopharmaceutical’s ZMapp, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc’s Regeneron and Remdesivir, made by Gilead Sciences , said WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic.
“The protocols for the fourth being submitted. Logistics underway with MSF support for importation of a few courses about 10 each,” he added in an email.
The UN health agency has said there have so far been no known cases of Ebola spreading between people in Uganda – all recorded patients had travelled in from Congo.
Treatments
Four experimental therapeutic treatments are already being used in Congo, it added.
On Friday, a WHO panel decided not to declare an international emergency over Congo’s Ebola outbreak despite its spread to Uganda, saying such a declaration could cause too much economic harm.
“Obviously, the crisis is far from over,” Mark Green, the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), told a news conference in Nairobi.
Health workers and people who came in contact with infected people began receiving a Merck experimental vaccine in Uganda on Saturday.
Meanwhile, several well-trodden paths crisscross this lush area where people walk between Congo and Uganda to visit nearby family and friends and go to the busy markets.
The problem is that the pedestrians may unknowingly be carrying the deadly Ebola virus, and hindering efforts to control the current outbreak in eastern Congo, which has killed more than 1,400 people.
The busy border post is open 12 hours a day from 7 am, but after dark people walk along the “panyas,” or “mouse paths,” as the narrow dirt trails are known in the local Kiswahili language.
The footpaths show the close kinship between the two countries, where most people have relatives on both sides of the border. But as Ebola rages they are a source of worry for health workers and local authorities trying to prevent any further cross-border contamination. Eastern Congo has battled the Ebola outbreak since last August and last week the disease spread to Uganda, where two people died of the hemorrhagic fever.
“This border is very porous,” said James Mwanga, a Ugandan police officer in charge of the Mpondwe border post. “You will not know who has passed if the person went through the unofficial border posts, in most cases. Now there is anxiety and so on. We have heightened our alertness.”
The Ebola deaths in Uganda happened after a family of Congolese-Ugandans traveled to Congo to care for a family elder suffering from the disease.
Authorities believe members of that family, including a 5-year-old boy and his 50-year-old grandmother who have since died of Ebola, took a footpath back into Uganda. In doing so, they may have exposed many Ugandans to the viral disease.
Control
The current outbreak in eastern Congo has become the second worst, after the West Africa outbreak of 2013-2016 in which more than 11,000 people died. Despite new anti-Ebola vaccines, the current outbreak has been difficult to control. Eastern Congo is one of the world’s most turbulent regions and rebels have attacked medical centers while community resistance has also hurt Ebola response work. The virus can spread quickly via close contact with bodily fluids of those infected and can be fatal in up to 90% of cases.
Identifying people who might have been exposed is crucial. The World Health Organization says at least 112 Ebola contacts have been identified in Uganda.
The outbreak is an “extraordinary event” of deep concern but does not yet merit being declared a global emergency, a Word Health Organization expert committee said last week.
Declaring an emergency could have “unintended consequences,” such as airlines stopping flights or governments closing borders, Preben Aavitsland, the acting chair of the committee, told reporters.
Congo’s Ministry of Health said the decision shows that its efforts to control the outbreak are effective, and some Congolese health workers are also opposed to declaring an emergency.
“Imagine if neighboring countries closed their borders because of us,” said Gerard Kasereka, a health worker who oversees preventive handwashing in the Congolese town of Butembo. “We would suffer because most of the people in Butembo make their living from commerce and most of our merchandise comes from Uganda, Kenya and Dubai.”
Despite the obvious risks of further cross-border contamination, Ugandan health officials insist they are prepared to prevent the disease from spreading. They urge vigilance and advise people to avoid hugging and even handshakes. At multiple border crossings travelers must wash their hands in chlorinated water and have their temperature taken before they can proceed.