There is a reason that ebola has reached Kampala, and it’s the same reason I’ve recommended against visiting Uganda for a while: the dictatorial Ugandan government.
The first (and last) time that ebola (or what we thought might have been ebola) reached a metropolitan area was in Nairobi in 1980, which became the subject of the documentary book “Hot Zone.” But in 1980 the size of Africa’s city populations were much smaller. Transport around the area and even just within the cities themselves was nowhere near as easy as it is, today.
As the most infectious disease we know on earth, the Kampala outbreak may unfortunately be a story only just beginning.
All the neighboring countries have moved into full-scale alert. Kenya has put all its national hospitals on special alert and has dispatched health officers to all border crossings with protective Hazmat gear.
“All the necessary kit and medical supplies needed have been assembled and dispatched to health facilities in the bordering districts,” Rwanda’s New Times newspaper reported this morning.
The South Sudan government said it will “not take any chances“ with the disease and has mobilized its national health network.
This is the fourth outbreak of ebola in Uganda since 2000. This is the first time that an announced original outbreak was not contained. Whatever the reasons for not being able to contain it this time, the reason it reached Kampala so quickly from the far end of the country is because the government of Uganda lied about the outbreak.
Three days before 14 people hemorrhaged to death in Kampala’s Mulago hospital, the government denied there was an outbreak. Friday, the Associated Press quoted a Ugandan government official who dismissed the possibility of a widely reported ebola outbreak in Kibaale province “as merely a rumor.”
Two days before the outbreak appeared in Kampala, a local news source quoting government authorities reported that “The team deployed in Kibaale has indicated that the outbreak is now fully contained and no further spread is expected to take place.”
This misinformation is typical of Ugandan authorities.
London’s Daily Telegraph tells the story best. After an outbreak in a nonrural area of northwest Uganda 2-3 weeks ago, the government tried to keep a lid on the story. When they were unable to, they claimed the outbreak had been contained. The confusion contributed to panic in the hospitals in the region, which led to people fleeing the area.
The Ugandan government’s policies of lies and misinformation are now beginning to undermine the little health care infrastructure that exists in its rural areas. Several weeks ago Transparency International issued a damning indictment of the government’s failing health care policies in rural Uganda.
Ebola’s incubation period is 7-10 days. One of the ironic components of this most infective of all diseases is that it’s so deadly if contained it kills itself pretty quickly. So if health officials can actually contain the disease this story will be dead and over in 3 weeks.
Unless, of course, Ugandan officials try to hide it, again.
I’ve said for a while now that the increasingly oppressive regime in Uganda with its unstable politic and jittery society makes it an undesirable destination for tourists.
And now there’s lot more reasons not to visit.
Please get all your facts straight before you run off into sensationalist journalism. there are some rather glaring misrepresentations in your story (this is exactly what you are accusing the Ugandan government of doing). And ending with a sentence like “I’ve said for a while now that the increasingly oppressive regime in Uganda with its unstable politic and jittery society makes it an undesirable destination for tourists”, Seems to me that you could replace the Uganda bit with any number of countries in Africa and they would fit the bill, it also shows me how little time you have spent exploring Uganda then. Definitely you are not living up to your billing as african answerman!
Jeremy Otter is General Manager of Premiere Safaris, Kampala
I have to unfortunately agree with Jeremy above. I have spent alot of time working with the health care system in Uganda, including the national emerging disease task force, and they are far ahead of many of their neighbors. There are a couple technical issues that need to be resolved in this post. First, the ways governments announce outbreaks is complex and involves both politics and technical issues of confirmation of cases, diagnostic infrastructure etc. So, how they choose to announce and when is much more than what you allude to. They have been very proactive in the previous ebola, yellow fever, anthrax etc. cases in the past couple of years. Finally, this is not presenting the usual way that ebola does. There is not blood flowing from all orifices that usually tips people off, and thus this looked like a bad fever. The area from which it came has good access to Kampala and of course sick people with the resources will go to better hospitals when they are sick and scared, most just dont have access. Of course some of things you state are true like the potential for panic etc. (Gee, western countries never panic about health scares do they? Imagine if we actually had ebola!). Furthermore, Hot Zone was about the medical monkey trade from SE Asia NOT Nairobi, and it never hurt a person. We have disagreed before, but this article is so irresponsible and over the top that I must ask to be removed from your list.
A twisted and warped view of Uganda as summarised in your last sentence.Rather sad.
Roni Madhvani
Marasa Africa
Ebola is a virus named after a river in Zaire, its first site of discovery. A usually fatal filovirus which affects monkeys, apes and humans, it is a cause of viral hemorrhagic fever — there are others. Filoviruses are string-shaped, often with a little hook or loop at one end. Another, somewhat less deadly filovirus is the Marburg virus.
Ebola is classified as a Level 4 pathogen (higher than AIDS) with a 2 to 21 day (7 to 14 days average) incubation period. There are currently four known strains of Ebola: Zaire, Sudan, Reston and Tai. All cause illness in sub-human primates. Only Ebola Reston does not cause illness in humans. The mortality rate of Ebola victims is between 60% and 90%; with Ebola Sudan at 60% and Ebola Zaire at 90%
If some one is biased about our lovely Pearl of Africa, deal with it! its not our fault that we are naturally blessed but anyways like any other country EBOLA/any other more dangerous disease can always break out there. So Mr HECK i have checked many of your posts and they are have a feeling of jeolusy about Uganda. We realy dont know why, mind if we share??? and if that is what gives you pleasure and prolongs your life span by writting such posts, please do it until cows come home but God on our side we shall over come this.
After reading through your article I fully agree with Jeremy, dominic and Roni. Its sad that anyone can want damage a country in a such a way because I am sure some guys out there will believe you.
The writer of this article is just a disgrantled opposition politician who is not patriotic at all. I think you lost our presentation in the first paragraph where you bring in politics.
Ebola is a virus like influenza and will come and go. Uganda has always been on alert and just give it a few days. As I speak now many Ugandans have taken the advice of their President and dont greet by shake of hands.
It is a shame and it will always haunt you for such a damaging statement that It is deadly. This is how the opposition in Uganda looses meaning. I am sure if the writer is even a Ugandan.
Business is going on as usual and Iam sure in a few days we shall forget about it.
Unfortunately this article is so biased and should not be taken seriously. The writer is simply promoting a tourism boycott as a way fighting his politcal woos. The disease is already curbed down and has not escalated into an epidemic. All those intending to visit the pearl of Africa should please go ahead with your plans.
People like you give properly researched, informative blogs a bad name. Any writer worth the time it takes to read this nonsense should check their facts before publishing.
1) 14 people have died – of which all but one died in a hospital in a remote rural location in the west, NOT in Kampala.
2) One person travelled to Kampala for treatment – hence dying there – but all INFECTIONS to date have occurred in one place.
3) There are only 20 cases total (inc the 14 deaths), all of which stem from the original family of the index case or the health worker that originally treated him.
4) It is all being rapidly and professionally contained by the relevant authorities – who have successfully contained previous cases.
5) Nobody has withheld information – it is all being updated in our national press here on a regular basis. The reason it took a couple of weeks to identify the strain (which by the way, is still pretty quick work) is that the patients were not displaying typical symptoms, not because of some attempted cover up.
Anyone reading this article or our comments and wanting to get an independent, professional medical viewpoint, check the WHO update on the outbreak:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_07_29/en/index.html
Now who is more qualified to speak on the matter? African Answerman or the World Health Organisation? I expect the former is ignorant and lazy enough to believe Joseph Kony is still in Uganda too.
What a terrible photo and and biased “blog”. I suspect that that the author has a financial reason to try to ruin tourism in Uganda????? I urge all interested to check out the WHO statement on Ebola in Uganda. They are not recommending travel or trade restrictions to Uganda.
Debbie Malik
Afri Tours & Travel Ltd.
These comments are uncalled for at this time. Ebola is a serious issue, but any tourist here is perfectly safe. The writer of this blog needs to do some research on how Ebola is spread before bankrupting the tourism industry here. Ebola is very difficult to catch, unless you are caring for, or sleeping with, the patient.
So, blog writer, don’t put me out of business just because you have issues with the government. Headlines like “Travel to Uganda now deadly” are not helpful, if you have issues, talk to the relevant authorities, don’t drag us all down with your unresearched politicisation of this.
I bet you need to keep up longer hours to get your facts on what ever piece you intend to report to the world.
Note: This article has introduced to the world not Ebola but a misinformed you. Try again.
Realm Africa Safaris (U) Ltd
“As the most infectious disease we know on earth, the Kampala outbreak may unfortunately be a story only just beginning.”
Shame on you Jim, this is highly irresponsible reporting. If you want to script a film, go write it, don’t dress it up as travel advice.
I have doctor friends at Mulago and a senior health NGO programme director friend who have helped develop responses to Ebola virus outbreaks and the situation is being far better managed than you suggest. It is, however, not perfect.
Whatever you think of the Ugandan government, it is totally unfair to end on such a negative note: over 300, 000 Ugandans rely on tourism for their living – by the time you’ve finished, that could be a whole lot less people.
The above comments speak for themselves. You should be ashamed of yourself for fear-mongering and jeopardizing Uganda tourism, Jim.
The WHO has stated that there is no need to restrict travel or trade to Uganda and within Uganda – http://www.who.int/csr/don/2012_07_29/en/index.html