Obongi district has reported two confirmed cases of Meningitis disease among the south Sudanese refugees in Palorinya settlement.
The confirmed are all minors one of whom is said to be five years old and the other below five years.
Both patients are in a stable condition and Isolated in Belameling Health centre two in Palorinya settlement, Obongi district.
Christopher Dradiku, the Regional Integrated Disease Surveillance focal person who works at the Public Health Emergency Information Centre at Arua Regional Referral Hospital, confirmed the cases, noting that more samples are being monitored.
“Health workers are being dispatched to take more samples, we need more three positives to declare an epidemicin the district but we encourage caution among health workers and the general communities as we monitor the trend,” Dradiku said.
Dominic Lomurecu, the Acting Obongi District Health Officer, attributes the cases to the continued transnational movement of the refugees without the notice of the authorities through the illegal entry routes.
“We have been monitoring sixteen cases since last month, five turned to be serious and two of them have been confirmed from the National Laboratory and are receiving treatment at Belameling Health Centre while the three are waiting for their results,” he said.
According to the health Authorities, they had by Monday listed 95 contacts that are being traced.
Lomurecu warned the residents against self-medication as the disease presents symptoms similar to malaria.
These include fever, nausea, vomiting and light sensitivity among others.
He said self-medication has trickle down effects on humans, noting that all the facilities in the district including both public and private have been instructed to critically screen for the disease.
Obongi Resident District Commissioner, Hashaka Mpimbaza, said efforts are being made to activate the district taskforce to beef the skeleton team already dispatched to the field to respond to the emergency.
“The first strategy we have laid is to protect our health workers by giving them physical protective equipment, we have isolated the positive cases, set aside several facilities to wait for any possible escalation of the disease and enhanced sensitisation of the communities through different Medias,” Mpimbaza noted.
