Residents of Tuma-Ngur village in Akwang sub-county, Kitgum districtin Uganda are battling with a strange disease now referred to as the nodding disease.
The disease was first detected in the 1990s, and there would be aerial spraying of areas prone to black flies known to cause river blindness.
Even traditional approaches like rites and rituals that saw goats, and chicken slaughtered to appease spirits.
Symptoms of nodding disease are:When a child is affected by it, his/her growth appears to be completely and permanently stunted.
The disease is named nodding syndrome since it causes pathological nodding. This is a seizure which often begins when the victim begins to eat food, or sometimes when he/she feels cold.[5] These seizures are brief and halt after the child stops eating or when they feel warm again. These seizures can manifest themselves with a wide degree of severity.
Diagnosis and treatment
Diagnosis is not very advanced and is based on the telltale nodding seizures of the victims. Stunted growth and mental retardation along with the seizures means there is a high probability that the disease is present. Neurological scans may also be used in attempts to diagnose symptoms of the disease in the future. As there is no known cure for the disease, treatment of the symptoms has included the use of anticonvulsants such as sodium valproate and phenobarbitol. Anti-malaria drugs have also been administered, to unknown effect.
While occurrences have been relatively recent, it appears that the condition was first documented in 1962 in southern Tanzania. By 2009, it had spread North to centre around Uganada's Kitgum district, more than 2000 children had the disease
Subscribe to this comment's feed
