Revival

I'll be back in Uganda from 1/7/08 - 1/18/08, so vector-borne.blogspot.com is revived for this short trip. Since I'm not there, here are a few Uganda highlights that I'm keeping an eye on:

From ProMED:

Sleeping sickness hit Mayuge
----------------------------
A total of 12 people were diagnosed with sleeping
sickness at Mayuge Grade Three health centre last
month [November 2007], the LC5 vice-chairman,
Peter Tasibula, has said. He warned that
residents were prone to the disease because the
Farming in Tsetse Controlled Areas project
stopped operating in the area. Sleeping sickness
is a vector-borne parasitic disease. The
parasites are transmitted to humans by tsetse
flies which acquire the virus from human beings or animals harbouring it.

[Mayuge District is located in the Southeastern
part of Uganda, and was already several years ago
classified as in a "pre-endemic" state regarding
sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis) (see:
Berrang-Ford L et al. Spatial Analysis of
Sleeping Sickness, Southeastern Uganda,
1970­2003. Emerg Infect Dis 2006;12:813-20
(<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no05/05-1284.htm>).
The cases reported here are therefore not a
surprise, and just confirm that trypanosomiasis
continues to be a problem in this part of Uganda.
General information on African trypanosomiasis
can be found at the WHO website
(<http://www.who.int/topics/trypanosomiasis_african/en/>). - Mod.EP]

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Also from ProMED:

EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - UGANDA (10): (BUNDIBUGYO)

[This death toll from Ebola hemorrhagic fever in western Uganda
continues to rise, having increased from 25 on Sat 8 Dec 2007 to 30
on Tue 11 Dec 2007. During the same period, the number of confirmed
cases has risen from 104 to 116. The number of people under
surveillance is not stated but was 328 on Sat 8 Dec 2007. - Mod.CP]

{Note that 30/116 deaths to confirmed cases is a much lower
case-fatality rate than in previous Ebola outbreaks -- see Karl
Johnson's comment in (09) in this thread. - Mod.JW]

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There is a surveillance site in the southwestern corner of Uganda that I'm doing some data analysis for, so we'll see if I decide to go out there or not with an Ebola outbreak taking place. Probably not, but it depends on how big/widespread the outbreak is, and how close it is to the surveillance site.

I'll be traveling to Chile from today till I go to Uganda, so no posts until I start on my way to Uganda.