Nodding disease death toll in Pader at 66

Experts from the World Health Organisation and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, USA, are trying to find the cause of the disease but so far their efforts are still fruitless.

Pader

As health experts remain puzzled about the mode of controlling the spread of the nodding disease that has been devastating Pader District, at least 66 children have been reported dead, leaving about 1,500 others out of school in just six months.

A report by Trans-Cultural Psychosocial Organisation, an NGO, reported that at least 1,800 new cases of the disease are reported after every three months, putting lives of more children in the district at risk.

Nodding disease is a peculiar health problem that was first reported in the district in 2008 and is characterised by head nodding, mental retardation, stunted growth, blindness, body stiffness, endless running nose and saliva, occasional defecation and urination during attack of the infected person.

Many of the affected children are malnourished because eating food seems to spark bouts of nodding and sometimes seizures. Epilepsy drugs have been used to control the attacks but they do not cure the disease, which has left many people perplexed, including medical officers.

Ms Jacinta Odong, 48, of Atanga Sub-county, who has so far lost two children to the disease, said she fears that her only remaining 11-year-old child, who is also infected, could die soon.

Pader District Health Officer Janet Oola on Tuesday said the spread of the disease is a great concern because it spreads so fast that about 1,400 to 1,600 infections were registered per day since August.

“The disease is so intense especially among children aged between 3-18 years and has spread to at least all sub-counties,” Dr Oola said, adding that despite using preventive drugs to treat the disease, more infections continue to emerge.

According to Dr Oola, the disease has no known drugs but medicines like Phenobarbitoin and Carbamaxpine that are used to treat its signs and symptoms are expensive for the district to adequately supply to the affected persons. She also noted that the disease can be prevented by observing hygiene.

Pader LC5 Chairman Alfred Akena, however, said the district is in the process of developing a paper that will help reduce the prevalence of the disease. “We have called for regional meetings with all the leaders in the region because the disease is a regional threat that needs joint effort to kick it out.”

The nodding disease is said to have first emerged in Sudan in the 1980s and is currently restricted to small regions in South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

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