Kampala, Jan 8 (IANS) The number of laboratory-confirmed mpox deaths in Uganda has climbed to 10 after four fatalities were registered in the last five days in the East African country, according to authorities.
In a situation update report released on Monday, Uganda’s Ministry of Health said at least 156 new infections were registered in the last five days, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 1,571 since the outbreak was declared six months ago.
The ministry said 19 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours, with 17 cases registered in the central district of Wakiso, one in Uganda’s capital of Kampala, and another in Lira, reports Xinhua news agency.
The ministry, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, has intensified preventive measures, including enhanced surveillance, case management, conducting health meetings, risk communication and community engagement, and public awareness campaigns to curb the spread of the disease.
Mpox is an illness caused by the monkeypox virus. It is a viral infection that can spread between people, mainly through close contact. Common symptoms of mpox include a rash, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen glands.
Last month, the WHO said that the epidemiological situation of mpox in Africa remains “especially concerning,” with high case counts observed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, and Uganda.
According to the latest report of the WHO, Africa has seen 13,769 confirmed cases across 20 countries as of December 15, including 60 deaths. The most affected country continues to be DRC, with 9,513 confirmed cases detected.
While the DRC, the outbreak’s epicentre, has seen a relatively stable epidemic trend in recent weeks, the WHO still warned that the plateauing and declining trends should be interpreted cautiously, given possible reporting delays.
The latest outbreak features the emergence and spread of a more dangerous but poorly understood variant, clade 1b, first detected in the DRC in September 2023. Cases of this clade 1b strain have since been reported in several countries, including Sweden and Thailand.
“Geographical expansion of clade 1b mpox virus (MPXV) continues to be reported outside the DRC,” the WHO said, noting that eight countries outside of Africa have detected the strain.
–IANS
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