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Swine flu now endemic in East Africa, says WHO

Saturday October 17 2009
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Personnel from the Kisumu District Hospital examine a student of Otieno Oyoo Secondary School for symptoms of swine flu. Photo/TOM OTIENO

H1N1 has probably become endemic in East Africa, with statistics from the World Health Organisation showing that the region has reported the highest number of confirmed cases on the continent outside South Africa.

According to the WHO figures for the period running to October 4, Tanzania has reported the highest number of confirmed cases in the East African Community, with 174 people having been diagnosed with the so-called swine flu. Kenya had reported 154 cases in the same period, while Uganda had confirmed 61, giving a total of 389 cases for the three EAC countries.

No cases had been confirmed to the WHO by Rwanda or Burundi, but by last week, Rwanda had however reported 15 cases.

The number of confirmed cases in East Africa however pales in comparison to those detected in South Africa, which had by October 4 confirmed 11,545 infections out of the 12,442 total reported to the WHO from 24 African countries.

According to the global health agency, the infections across the continent have caused at least 70 deaths, although the number is probably higher due to under-reporting.

Going by the WHO data, the rate of infection across East Africa is picking up, with 31 of Tanzania’s cases alone being reported between September 28 and October 4.

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In Uganda 26 cases, or about 40 per cent of the country’s confirmed cases were also reported within the same short period.

EAC countries also became the first countries in Africa to receive the first batch of H1N1 vaccine from the WHO.

Last Wednesday, in a sign that H1N1 had reached a critical threshold, Ugandan education authorities ordered all schools to cancel visitations and inter-school activities for their students following outbreaks in several institutions.

Other measures ordered by the ministry included the isolation of suspected cases, and reducing over-crowding by maintaining a 0.6 metre gap between beds.

The measures announced by the Ugandan authorities followed the confirmation of infections in three schools — Ndejje SS in Luwero district, Katabi Seminary in Bushenyi, and Nyakasura School in Kabarole.

The WHO recognises schools and colleges as potential hotspots for H1N1, and recently issued guidelines on how to handle the situation in these environments.

According to the agency, health and education authorities should handle outbreaks in their jurisdictions using the resources available, and should not necessarily close schools and colleges which report outbreaks to limit spread to the general community.

Institutions should also upscale hygiene facilities and establish isolation units, the WHO recommended.

Like Uganda, several Kenyan learning institutions have confirmed cases of H1N1 among their students, raising suspicions that the infection was now widely spread in the general population.

Those suspicions heightened when 21 cases were confirmed in two large refugee camps in northern Kenya housing a total of 320,000 people.

Sixteen of the cases were detected in Dadaab, while five were confirmed in Kakuma.

Following the detection of the cases, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said that it had activated its emergency preparedness plan for dealing with H1N1, including establishing isolation facilities and installed extra personal hygiene facilities.

On its part, the WHO is calling for calm, saying that H1N1 had proved to be a much milder infection than originally thought.

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