Travellers from Uganda undergo Ebola screening at Busia border point on
August 1, 2012. The government has set up a 24-hour screening centre at
Malaba and Busia border points. Photo/LINET WAFULA The government has set up a surveillance team to monitor the Ebola outbreak in parts of neighbouring Uganda.
The outbreak of the haemoragic fever was first reported in Kibaale district in western Uganda last weekend and has led to the deaths to 13 people while 33 are undergoing treatment.
The director of public health, Shanaaz Sharif, said measures were in place to detect and respond to any suspected case of Ebola within Kenya’s borders.
Dr Sharif will head the national task force that was set up on Wednesday to advise the government following the outbreak.
The World Health Organisation, Centre for Disease Control, Unicef and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are members of the task force.
Others are the ministry of Internal Security, Kenya Airports Authority, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and Kenya Ports Authority.
However, Dr Shanaz said mass screening of travellers was not being carried out yet though health officials were carrying out routine trans-border surveillance while medicine had been provided and isolation wards set up in high risk facilities.
“All health workers in the country have been put on high alert and Ebola fact sheets have been circulated to all the health facilities,” Dr Sharif said.
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Meanwhile, there was panic at Siaya District Hospital yesterday evening when a man exhibiting signs of the disease was admitted at the health facility.
The 27-year-old man was put in an isolation ward and his blood sample sent to the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
The Siaya medical superintendent, Dr Jacktone Omoto, said the patient had suffered from excessive bleeding after a tooth extraction.
“We have only isolated him as a precautionary measure and we are waiting for the results of the test,” said Dr Omoto.
At the same time, South Sudan has also scaled up its surveillance following the outbreak.
The country has “heightened surveillance at Juba International Airport to ensure that any imported suspected case is promptly detected,” the South Sudan Health minister, Michael Milly Hussein, said.
He said the aim was to “ensure that all suspected cases are detected on time in the country, especially in the border states.”