en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nodding_disease
3000 Children in Uganda suffer now on it and 100 already past away
digitaljournal.com/article/317607
Several districts of northern Uganda are hit by a rare nodding syndrome that causes young children and adolescents to nod violently when they eat food.
The disease, first reported in September 2009 has since spread to five districts in Northern Uganda and claimed more than 100 lives in the last few months alone.
A team of scientists from the ministry of health, World Health Organization and CDC are going to carry out a series new tests . Two previous samples and tests carried out by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) scientists in Atlanta failed to identify the cause of the disease.
The major symptoms of the disease are head nodding, mental retardation, stunted growth affecting children and young adults. It causes young children and adolescents to nod violently while eating.
There is no known cure for nodding syndrome, but Uganda’s Ministry of Health has begun using anti-convulsants drugs to treat its signs and symptoms. Even traditional approaches like rites and rituals that saw goats, and chicken slaughtered to appease spirits have been tried.
Local representatives attribute the outbreak to the effects of the over two decade long insurgency that the region faced until 2006. They also urged the Government to provide mobile ambulance services to the affected areas since most villages are so far away from the health centres and hospitals. Reagan Okumu, the chairperson of Acholi Parliamentary Group said:
The situation is bad. We need to treat this as an emergency situation. We want the government to declare the region a disaster area.