Ugandan government has declared Uganda free from yellow fever after confirming the containment of the disease through a successful vaccination campaign in the affected areas and travel advisory to travellers from high risk countries reports the Daily Monitor.
There is no evidence of any active yellow fever transmission in the period between June 1st and 30th this year, therefore indicating the East African county if free of the virus disease.
“No new cases of yellow fever have been confirmed. The Public Health Emergency Operations Centres (PHEOC) coordinated a one month enhance yellow fever surveillance in seventeen districts surrounding Masaka, Rukungiri and Kalangala but there was no evidence of yellow fever transmission,” said Professor Anthony Mbonye, the Acting Director of General Health Services
Yellow fever broke out in March 2016 in Masaka with the cases from a single family that had presented to Masaka Referral Hospital with high grade fever that was non responsive to anti-malarial treatment associated with signs of convulsions and unconsciousness according to the Daily Monitor.
In the 65 suspected yellow fever cases in March, seven cases were confirmed and three people dead of the disease after the outbreak.
The Ministry of Health issued a travel advisory asking travellers from high risk countries to present their immunisation certificates at Uganda’s international airport -Entebbe International Airport -as one of the ways to control the spread of the disease in the country. However, surveillance efforts are still ongoing at the operation centres to ensure that the risks of importation of yellow fever through international travel are minimized.
