Uganda is declared Ebola-free

Prayers from all religious denominations were successively said during an intensely hot afternoon of February 27 at the three graveyards harbouring 150 remains of people who succumbed to Ebola in in Gulu, the former epicentre of the epidemic. "The remains of my son are there. He was everything to me but l lost him," mourned Grace Acan, 56, while pointing at a tombstone among the 108 clearly marked others in the compound of an army barracks near Gulu, 360 kilometres north of the Ugandan capital Kampala.

Teams of health experts from all over the world led by the World Health Organisation converged on the East African country after reports indicated an outbreak of the disease which led to haemorrhagic fever and bleeding from all body outlets of its victims. The disease which was later identified as Ebola-Sudan in October hit Gulu later spread to two other districts in the south west and north west of Kampala killing 173 people in all and leaving an accumulated number of registered cases including the dead and discharged at 426.

"We are marking the end of Ebola and remembering those of our society who have died of the disease. For every 100 Ebola patients, 40 of them died and of the 173 who died, 17 were health workers. Our performance compared to other countries affected with Ebola has been excellent," health minister Dr. Crispus Kiyongo told a gathering Health regulations did not allow victims of the fast-spreading disease to be buried by relatives apart from trained health personell in protective gear and the Gulu residents, for the first time seeking to see where the remains of their beloved ones were buried were tearfully scrambling to identify their names on the neatly lined tombstones.

"That period was a nightmare for all of us and for me in particular. L lost two sons and four other close relatives. lam still tracing them," Betty Lapoti (54) said at a cemetery near Gulu. But officials at the ceremony told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that signs of the after-effects of the survivors were emerging, posing a future threat to their lives.

Gulu district civic chairman Walter Ochola told dpa that people treated of Ebola ailments and discharged from hospitals are experiencing side effects like losing senses of sight and hearing. "We are seeing side effects from people who were treated of Ebola. We are appealing for aid on their behalf," he said. The district's director for health services Dr. Paul Onek said that the former Ebola patients are suffering from complications which the health ministry is aware of.

"About 15 percent of those who survived have health complaints. We have received complaints from the survivors suffering from eye and ear complications, joint and muscle pains. But the complaints were more when they had just been discharged. lt is not common among all the Ebola survivors but they will disappear," he said. Authorities in Gulu said that 555 children below the age of 18 were orphaned when one or two of their parents succumbed to the Ebola attacks.

(la/dpa)