
Zika was first identified in this spot near Entebbe. Now scientists must find out how a relatively mild virus spread so far, with such horrific effects…
But Uganda, the world capital of viruses, mostly shrugged – after all, malaria-carrying mosquitoes cause the deaths of 100,000 people in the country every year, most of them under five. Earlier this month it was reported that a malaria epidemic was raging in the north of the country, with over a million cases and 658 deaths since July. Meanwhile, 1.5 million Ugandans are infected with another virus, HIV, thousands have Hepatitis B, and there have been outbreaks of Ebola and Marburg.
“Say a million people suffered and 650 people died in one epidemic in a few months in Europe or the US,” said Kampala businessman Sudhir Otada. “What would be the reaction? Is it because we are poor?”
Mukwaya says he was astonished to hear of what was in Uganda a pretty harmless disease evolving into a potential global monster almost overnight on another continent. “I was very surprised by what has happened in Brazil,” he said. “Here it causes only a mild fever. I did not expect it to be that dangerous. It would be extraordinary if it really could spread from mosquito to human to human.”
Source: Zika forest: birthplace of virus that has spread fear across the world | Global development | The Guardian
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