Impact of enhanced viral haemorrhagic fever surveillance on outbreak detection and response in Uganda

• Published in: The Lancet infectious diseases Vol. 18; no. 4; pp. 373 - 375
• Main Authors: Shoemaker, Trevor R, Balinandi, Stephen, Tumusiime, Alex, Nyakarahuka, Luke, Lutwama, Julius, Mbidde, Edward, Kofman, Aaron, Klena, John D, Ströher, Ute, Rollin, Pierre E, Nichol, Stuart T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2018; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Data management; Disease control; Ebola virus; Ebolavirus; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Fever; Global health; Hemorrhagic fever; Infections; Infectious diseases; Laboratories; Outbreaks; Public health; Role models; Vector-borne diseases; Zoonoses; Uganda; United States > US; Kampala Uganda; West Africa; Sudan; Africa
• ISSN: 1473-3099; 1474-4457
• DOI: 10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30164-6

All viral haemorrhagic fever laboratory confirmatory testing is done at UVRI and results are available within 24-48 h after sample reception.Since 2010, the viral haemorrhagic fever laboratory has tested over 11 000 clinical samples from serosurveys, surveillance programmes, and outbreaks.In addition to the success of the viral haemorrhagic fever programme in Uganda, direct technical assistance and support for response to viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks throughout Africa has been provided, including for the west Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014-16.8 Materials developed for the Uganda viral haemorrhagic fever programme, including standardised case reporting forms, case definitions, health education and risk communication materials, and the Epi-Info viral haemorrhagic fever application,9 were used in 2014 to the three west African countries affected by Ebola virus disease to aid in outbreak management and control since the region had no previous experience with filovirus outbreaks.Rift valley fever response-Kabale District, Uganda, March 2016, MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, Vol. 65, 2016, 1200-1201 6 JF Wamala, L Lukwago, M Malimbo, Ebola hemorrhagic fever associated with novel virus strain, Uganda, 2007-2008, Emerg Infect Dis, Vol. 16, 2010, 1087-1092 7 SI Okware, FG Omaswa, S Zaramba, An outbreak of Ebola in Uganda, Trop Med Int Health, Vol. 7, 2002, 1068-1075 8 S Bagcchi, Ebola haemorrhagic fever in west Africa, Lancet Infect Dis, Vol. 14, 2014, 375 9 IJ Schafer, E Knudsen, LA McNamara, S Agnihotri, PE Rollin, A Islam, The Epi Info Viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) application: a resource for outbreak data management and contact tracing in the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, J Infect Dis, Vol. 214, Iss. suppl 3, 2016, S122-S136 10 JN Borchert, JW Tappero, R Downing, Rapidly building global health security capacity-Uganda demonstration project, 2013, MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, Vol. 63, 2014, 73-76