Three people have died of a suspected fresh pneumonic plague outbreak in Logiri Sub County in Arua district. The deceased are 17-year-old Simu Anguyo, Ana Afetia 38 and Oloko Mulele 32, all residents of Mbaru village in Okavu parish. Infected persons usually present with “flu-like” symptoms after an incubation period ranging between 3 to 7 days.
Patients typically experience the sudden onset of fever, chills, head and body-aches, weakness, vomiting and nausea.
It is normally attributed to poor hygiene and sanitation in most homes. Joshua Andiku, the in charge of Logiri Health Center says they have sent a team of officials to the village to sensitize residents about the disease. The Pneumonic plague broke out in Arua in February 2012 killing two people in Vurra Sub County. As a drive to fight the disease in 2009, Ministry of Health launched a sensitization program for the two border district of Nebbi and Arua when the disease ravaged the area in 2008.
More than 90 people were infected and 17 other killed by the pneumonic plague. Yovan Adriko, the LC III chairman Logiri Sub County says that they have been battling the fresh outbreak of the disease in his area but their efforts have gone to waste because of the failure to adhere to the information given to the residents. He says that despite the sensitization campaign, several homes are surrounded by bushes, adding that most residents also sleep on papyrus mats because of the biting poverty.
He explains most families cannot afford descent bedding facilities which exposes them to rodents which spread the disease. According to World Health Organization, primary pneumonic plague results from inhalation of aerosolized infective droplets and can be transmitted from human to human without the involvement of fleas or animals. Untreated pneumonic plague has a very high case-fatality ratio.
Over the years, plague outbreaks have been spreading to West Nile from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result, ministry of health decided to carry out inside residual spray in the plague prone areas of Logiri and Vurra in Arua and Kango, Zeu and Jangokoro Sub-counties in Zombo district.
