Is Ebola Spinning Out Of Control?

Is Ebola spinning out of control?

Tonny Abet

The international travel restrictions on passengers from Uganda and health alerts over Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Uganda have increased concerns about the effectiveness of the government’s response to the epidemic.

The United States government announced on Thursday that all US-bound passengers, who have been in Uganda in the 21 days prior to their arrival, will be routed to one of the five airports for enhanced screening.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply new layers of screening at these five US airports in response to the Ebola outbreak in Uganda,” the US Embassy in Uganda said in a statement on their website.

The passengers will be routed to New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Atlanta (ATL), Chicago (ORD), or Washington (IAD), according to the embassy.

Similarly, the government of the United Kingdom, in an October 6 statement on their website, alerted health workers and heads of hospitals in their country to pay attention to those who are coming from “affected areas.”

The alerts and restrictions came a day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) released figures on Ebola that are higher than those reported by the Health ministry.

“WHO is continuing to support the Government of Uganda to respond to the Ebola outbreak in four districts. So far, 63 confirmed and probable cases have been reported, including 29 deaths. Ten health workers have been infected and four have died,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of WHO, said.

By then (October 5), the data from the Health ministry indicated that the Ebola cases were at 43, with deaths at 10. The ministry is only reporting confirmed cases, leaving the probable Ebola deaths that happened before the outbreak was announced on September 19 unaccounted for even as the country looks for the index case.

Elsewhere, the EVD deaths, specifically those of four health workers, have triggered questions around the effectiveness of strategies to protect those to whose care Ebola patients are entrusted.

Dr Samuel Oledo, the president of the Uganda Medical Association (UMA), said on Tuesday, that before the death of Margaret Nabisubi, who was battling EVD at Fort Portal Hospital, the care the anaesthetic officer was receiving was “lacking.”

Following Nabisubi’s death on Wednesday, Dr Githinji Gitahi—the Group chief executive officer for Amref Health Africa—one of the major supporters of Uganda’s health system, said on Twitter: “This is getting out of hand! We need to protect health workers with PPEs (personal protective equipment), infection prevention and control in patient care and management, including hygiene, health insurance, risk allowances and mental health. Urgently!”