By Spy Uganda
Uganda Prisons services has confirmed one case of mpox in Nakasongola Prison in central Uganda.
This has been confirmed by Frank Baine, the spokesperson for the Uganda Prison Service on Tuesday noting that the patient had been isolated and was receiving treatment.
The World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years in August, following an outbreak of the viral infection in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, which has spread to Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda.
Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.
Congolese health officials launched their first mpox vaccination campaign on Saturday.
Uganda is also on high alert for possible cross-border transmission of the highly infectious Marburg virus from an outbreak in neighbouring Rwanda.
