The Plagues of Uganda

Concurrent outbreaks of several diseases in Uganda have health officials there on the defensive, reports The Monitor in Kampala.

Even as the country struggles to contain an ebola outbreak, new cases of meningitis, cholera, bubonic plague and yellow fever are turning up in different parts of the country. Suspected cases of hepatitis have also been reported.

Some of the diseases have claimed dozens of lives so far, and thousands have been infected.

According to the newspaper, simple behavior changes among individuals and authorities can help prevent disease transmission.

One doctor decried sex discriminiation in Uganda’s frontier region, where women sleep on the floor and are thus more vulnerable to bubonic plague-bearing fleas.

Men take the beds for themselves, out of reach of fleas that can only jump six inches off the ground.

Meanwhile, critics in Uganda’s parliament ripped the government for withholding details on the ebola outbreak, and for failing to deliver aid monies to the affected districts in time.

Source:

“Four Epidemics Hit Country”
The Monitor (Uganda), December 5, 2007

2 thoughts on “The Plagues of Uganda

  1. Could use alittle more information as far as I am concerened. I needed more to know for a “full front page” of work for class.