New Ebola Outbreak in Uganda After Residents Removed Infected Body From Grave

Nicolas SimpsonNovember 2, 2022, 12:55 PM

A recent outbreak of an Ebola strain said to have no known vaccine has emerged in the district of Kassanda, Uganda, as its residents ignored proper preventative measures to exhume the body of an individual who died from the virus in order to fulfill their religious practice of a conventional Islamic burial.

The residents waited for nightfall when they would be least likely detected and dug up the grave which they intended to transport via motorbike.

Uganda’s health minister had expected the people of the small farming community to change their ways after three of the mourners ended up dead while more than 22 individuals became infected in mere days of being exposed to the corpse. Unfortunately, she was proven wrong. The community held a meeting to converse about the protocols and obstacles the various health teams encountered with the more recent cases. It was also revealed by the commander of the district’s Ebola incident that certain groups of rebellious to various health procedures.

Some of these rebellious behaviours came in the form of youths who threw stones at passing patrol vehicles since the implementation of rules that restricted movement, and those who sought sanctuary with traditional healers in shrines. The healers were had been prohibited from working while the outbreak lasted.

Ebola spread when the bodily fluids of someone who is infected come into contact with another individual or with any materials that have been contaminated with the virus. Symptoms of Ebola include fever, muscle pain, and fatigue (early stages) which can oftentimes be mistaken for measles or malaria. Patients with Ebola are harder to keep track of if they are constantly moving and this can cause new cases to manifest. Failure to isolate gives way to deadly results.

As reported by Ugandan health representatives who are trying to stem the rise of panic linked to worry of a nationwide lockdown, almost all Ebola contacts have been catalogued and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concur that the work of tracers has been invaluable in keeping the rise of the virus under wraps.

Although the outbreak is being controlled and monitored, it is unlikely that infections will seize if people do not work together to prevent contamination and if vaccines remain ineffective. Rather than getting health officials involved to isolate infection, some residents of remote communities that have high illiteracy levels still believe that Ebola is the work of witchcraft.

The World Health Organization stated that the current upsurge of the virus boasts a mortality rate of almost 30 percent.

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