121 Dead So Far In Ugandan Outbreak Of Hepatitis E - AFP

[hatrack]

A hepatitis E epidemic has killed 121 people in northern Uganda, where it erupted in October last year, a health ministry official said Thursday.

The outbreak has mainly affected displaced residents in the Kitgum district returning to their homes, which lack proper hygiene, said Kenya Mugisha, the ministry's director for clinical services.

"These people are moving from IDP camps to areas with no facilities. They have poor hygiene and sanitation," Mugisha told AFP, adding that 836 new infections have been reported since August 14.

Northern Uganda is emerging from two decades of civil war and its tens of thousands of displaced inhabitants still living in camps are particularly vulnerable.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Toll_rises_to_121_in_Uganda_hepatitis_epidemic_999.html

[izquierdista]

1. Damn!

I've been vaccinated for 'A' and 'B' and they are already up to 'E'?? Forget about Al Qaeda, get these people some clean water and flush toilets or they will spawn a new disease that will kill us all.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I never heard of the E one before :^(

[happyslug]

3. It is a new one for me also, and I have see the adopting of "D" from non-A,B,C.

At one time there was just Hepatitis. Then a cause for it was found, but the cause did NOT explain all Hepatitis, thus we had Type A Hepatitis, and Non-A Hepatitis. We then went on a found another cause for Hepatitis, but again there were cases of Hepatitis NOT explained by this new Cause, thus we ended up with Type A, Type b and Non A Non B. Then Type C was discovered, then type D. And Non A B C D.

Now from what I have read Type E has been known since 1980, but mostly in the third word and unlike Type C, it can disappear on its own. Like Type A, Type E generally causes no long term harm.

From the Center for Disease Control (CDC):
http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/index.htm

From World Health Organizations (WHO):
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs280/en/

Type C first Classified in 1989:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs164/en/

Type D is know to exist, but apparently only in the presence of Type B:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_D

Type E found in 1980,
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs280/en/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_E

Type F is suspected to exist but the information in it is rare:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_F_virus

There is some question if Type G has been found in 1995, a virus was found can called Type G, but it does not appear to cause any harm to humans:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_G
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/336/11/741

[hatrack]

4. Apparently it's not terribly lethal, but the medical infrastructure being what it is in Uganda . . .

I had never heard of it either before I bumped into this report.