The National Public Health Institute, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, is receiving information about incoming travellers from Uganda, according to the government.
Following test confirmation of a patient from a community in Madudu sub-county, Mubende district, central Uganda, Ugandan health authorities declared an epidemic of Ebola illness, caused by the Sudan virus, on September 20, 2022.
A 24-year-old man with a variety of symptoms on September 11 was the case. On September 15, he was referred to the Regional Referral Hospital, where he was kept in isolation as a possible case of viral hemorrhagic fever. A blood sample was taken on September 17 and sent to the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Kampala. On September 19, results from RT-PCR tests revealed that the sample tested positive for SUDV. The patient passed away that day.
Humans are affected by the Sudan virus disease, which the World Health Organization describes as a serious and frequently fatal condition. In June 1976, the Sudan virus was discovered for the first time in Southern Sudan. Since then, the virus has periodically reemerged, with seven outbreaks attributed to SUDV reported to date, four in Uganda and three in Sudan. In previous epidemics, the estimated case fatality percentages for SVD ranged from 41% to 100%.
The Director/Senior Technical Assistant to the Minister of Health, Dr. Chris Isokpunwu, stated in an exclusive conversation with our correspondent on Tuesday that "vigilance has intensified" and that port health services are on high alert at our land borders and airports. In case contact tracing is required, information about travelers arriving from Uganda is gathered and submitted to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control.
However, according to Dr. Isokpunwu, there are no known cases of the illness in the nation.
43 Ebola cases have been reported in Uganda as of October 2.
The number of case fatalities has also increased to nine, according to the Ugandan Ministry of Health.
882 contacts were designated for follow-up in the Ebola epidemic updates released on the Ministry of Health's Twitter page, @MinofHealthUG, and 24 active cases are currently being treated in hospitals.
According to Obinna Chukwudi, a medical laboratory scientist at the Department of Microbiology of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital in Nnewi, Anambra State, the current increase in Ebola cases in Uganda is cause for alarm due to the strain's unusual characteristics.
In order to prevent community spread, Chukwudi gave the government the job of "establishing a strong surveillance system across the borders and other entrance ports to ensure that travelers into the country are adequately tested."
"Raise awareness of the outbreak among Nigerians to expand our campaign. highlighting the necessity for all Nigerians to keep using their protective gear and avoid engaging in activities that could expose them to the virus.
A direct encounter with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected animals, such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope, or porcupines found ill, dead, or in the jungle, is how the Ebola virus is spread to humans, according to the WHO.
The virus then spreads between people by direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with either the blood or body fluids of a person who is ill with or has died from SVD or with objects that have been contaminated with body fluids (like blood, feces, or vomit) from a person sick with SVD or the body of a person who has died from SVD.
"The incubation time spans between 2 and 21 days. People with the Sudan virus cannot transmit the illness until they show symptoms, and they are contagious as long as the virus is present in their blood. Fever, exhaustion, muscle pain, headaches, and sore throat are some of the sudden signs of SVD. These are later joined by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and signs of impaired kidney and liver function.
The early vague symptoms of SVD might be difficult to distinguish from other infectious disorders such malaria, typhoid fever, and meningitis. RT-PCR is one of many diagnostic techniques used for confirmation. Treatment of specific symptoms and supportive care, such as rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids, increase survival.
The statement read, "There are no approved medicines or vaccines for the prevention and treatment of Sudan virus disease."
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