SOROTI – Soroti Regional Referral Hospital has isolated a patient confirmed to have Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, a widespread disease caused by a tick-borne virus.
The patient is a 41-year-old woman from Aperikila Sub County in Kaberamaido District.
She was admitted to Soroti Regional Referral Hospital on Wednesday after a referral from Kaberamaido Hospital where she was taken to treat a headache and stomachache earlier in the week.
The Crimean Congo Fever virus is primarily transmitted to people from ticks and livestock animals, while according to medics, Human-to-human transmission can occur resulting from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of an infected person.
The fever presents with headache, high fever, back pain, joint pain, stomach pain, and vomiting.
The patient may also show reddish eyes, a flushed face, a red throat and red spots on the palate, according to information from the Ministry of Health website.
Outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 40 per cent, yet there is no vaccine available for either people or animals.
Dr Wilson Etolu, a Consultant Physician at the Hospital confirmed that they are managing the patient at the Covid-19 isolation unit.
Uganda has previously recorded outbreaks of Crimean- Congo Hemorrhagic Fever between 2013 and 2017 and between July 2018 and January 2019.
This time, however, the outbreak comes amidst an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease which resulted in a lockdown on Kassanda and Mubende Districts in Central Uganda.