Uganda teams up with UN to battle fatal "nodding syndrome"

Jan 12, 2012, 12:38 GMT

Kampala - Ugandan and World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Thursday they were working together to control a mysterious and sometimes fatal ailment that has so far affected about 3,000 people, mostly children, who nod their head continuously.

Authorities say they have not yet been able to establish the cause of the disease, which local newspapers say has already killed over 100 people in Uganda and is now spreading quickly. Five districts in the north of the country are reporting cases of the bizarre and painful ailment.

'We are training community workers and providing relief drugs. (The) government is setting up a comprehensive plan that involves research, treatment of the sick and preventive measures including provision of nutrients,' Health Ministry spokeswoman Rukia Nakamatte told dpa.

The disease, dubbed the 'nodding syndrome,' may be caused by nutritional deficiencies, scientists say. The symptoms include the constant nodding of the head, weakness, inability to work, brain damage and severe epilepsy, authorities say.

A governmental team was dispatched to the area last week but it did not reach any comprehensive conclusions.

As research goes on, arrangements are being made to train community workers who would go out to the villages to educate people on nutrition.

The Health Ministry is also set to distribute doses of carbimazole, a drug that is said to provide relief to the patients, who are mostly children aged between 5 and 18 years.

According to Lawrence Ojom, a medical doctor and director of a referral hospital in the northern Kitgum district, there are no facilities to accommodate the sick.

'This is a chronic problem which cannot be cured soon and so you cannot admit all these people in the hospitals. (There) are many out there in the communities,' Ojom said by telephone from the area, which is the worst affected by the disease.

Solomon Fisseha, a WHO representative in Kampala, said that his organization was trying to find the resources to help. If money can be allocated, it would go to nutritional interventions.

Fisseha said the disease was first diagnosed in Tanzania in the 1960s. It is believed to be a form of advanced epileptic disorder, which can be stemmed through better nutrition.