Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday urged citizens to avoid body contacts in order to curb the spread of Marburg hemorrhagic fever.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that Marburg is a severe and highly fatal disease caused by a virus from the same family as the one that causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever.
The illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly with severe headaches and severe malaise.
Museveni, while attending the annual National Prayer Breakfast, said that during the current outbreak the cultural norm which involved among others shaking hands and hugging must be suspended.
“Stop interpersonal communication so that we can control this problem’’ he said, noting that it is one of the sure ways of curtailing the spread of the deadly Ebola and Marburg diseases.
Museveni also advised populations staying near forests to avoid eating monkeys, saying they were the known hosts of the deadly zoonotic diseases.
He said such cultural practices were partly responsible for rapid spread of Ebola in West Africa where the disease has killed over 3,000 people.
Uganda’s Ministry of Health on Sunday announced that the deadly Marburg viral fever had broken out in the country and had so far killed one person.
“Over 90 people who got into close contact with the deceased are under close monitoring to avoid the spread of the virulent disease,’’ it said.