Tuesday 31 July 2012

Don’t worry we just testing the virus on a few guinea pigs, we shall be done in a short while: WHO tells public not to panic over Ebola



FIRST READ:

Destructing us from Hillary Clinton’s Meeting with Museveni to discuss the next strategy to enhance US control of DR Congo Mineral Resources: Uganda bans physical contact as Ebola reaches Kampala business district



The evil that humans do: Ebola Kills 14 in Kibale District of Uganda: Locals believed the illnesses were the result of an attack of evil spirits, send the sick for prayers


http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-evil-that-human-do-ebola-kills-14.html


WHO tells public not to panic over Ebola



By Agatha Ayebazibwe 

Posted  Tuesday, July 31  2012 at  01:00


The World Health Organisation has called on the public not to panic over the Ebola Hemorrhagic fever, saying the situation is being contained in Kibaale District.

The WHO country representative, Dr Joaquim Saweka, while opening the international scientific conference on nodding syndrome in Kampala yesterday, said health experts were attending to the situation.

“I want to assure the public and the delegates at the conference that the Ministry of Health, Centres for Disease Control, WHO and other health partners are working hard to contain the situation and there should be no cause for alarm,” Dr Saweka said.

Team dispatched
A statement issued by the organisation indicated that experts from the health ministry, WHO and CDC were dispatched to Kibaale to support the response operations and identify possible contacts that were exposed to the suspected and confirmed cases since July 6 for active follow up.

However, WHO does not recommend that any travel or trade restrictions are applied to Uganda contrary to the Ministry of Health position regarding referrals of Ebola patients to Mulago hospital.

The health ministry yesterday banned the referral of Ebola patients from Kibaale to Mulago with immediate effect as a way to contain the situation.

“The disease must be handled locally to contain the spread and we cannot accept this stampede at Mulago because all services will be at stand still,” said Dr Dennis Lwamafa, the commissioner for health services in the health ministry.”

Ebola Reston in pigs and humans in the Philippines

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_02_03/en/  

3 February 2009 - On 23 January 2009, the Government of the Philippines announced that a person thought to have come in contact with sick pigs had tested positive for Ebola Reston Virus (ERV) antibodies (IgG). On 30 January 2009 the Government announced that a further four individuals had been found positive for ERV antibodies: two farm workers in Bulacan and one farm worker in Pangasinan - the two farms currently under quarantine in northern Luzon because of ERV infection was found in pigs - and one butcher from a slaughterhouse in Pangasinan. The person announced on 23 January to have tested positive for ERV antibodies is reported to be a backyard pig farmer from Valenzuela City - a neighbourhood within Metro Manila.

The Philippine Department of Health has said that the people who tested positive appear to be in good health and have not suffered from any significant illnesses in the past 12 months. The investigation team reported that it was possible that all 5 individuals had been exposed to the virus as a result of direct contact with sick pigs. The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is not common practice among these animal handlers.

From these observations and previous studies of ERV, the virus has shown it can be transmitted to humans, without resulting in illness. However, the evidence available relates only to healthy adults and it would be premature to conclude the health effects of the virus on all population groups. The threat to human health is likely to be low for healthy adults but is unknown for all other population groups, such as immuno-compromised persons, persons with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women and children.

The Philippine Government is conducting contact tracing in relation to the five individuals who tested positive for antibodies. In addition, testing is ongoing for other persons who could have come into contact with sick pigs on the two quarantined farms in the provinces of Bulacan and Pangasinan where pigs co-infected with the Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS) and ERV were reported in 2008. The two farms remain under quarantine and the Philippine Government is maintaining its voluntary hold of exports of live pigs and fresh and frozen pork meat.

The Philippine Government has announced a combined Department of Health and Department of Agriculture strategy to limit the animal and human health risks of the Ebola Reston Virus and emphasized that local governments, the pig farming industry and the public will play a critical role in the strategy.

Along with its international partners, the WHO will continue to support the Philippine Government in its efforts to gain a better understanding of the Ebola Reston virus, its effects on humans, and the measures that need to be taken to reduce any risks to human health.

First detection of Ebola-Reston virus in pigs


FAO/OIE/WHO offer assistance to the Philippines

Manila/Roma, 23 December 2008 - Following the detection of the Ebola-Reston virus in pigs in the Philippines, FAO, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that the government of the Philippines has requested the three agencies send an expert mission to work with human and animal health experts in the Philippines to further investigate the situation.


An increase in pig mortality on swine farms in the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan in 2007 and 2008 prompted the Government of the Philippines to initiate laboratory investigations. Samples taken from ill pigs in May, June and September 2008 were sent to international reference laboratories which confirmed in late October that the pigs were infected with a highly virulent strain of Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) as well as the Ebola-Reston virus.


Ebola-Reston in swine

Although co-infection in pigs is not unusual, this is the first time globally that an Ebola-Reston virus has been isolated in swine. It is not, however, the first time that the Ebola-Reston virus has been found in the Philippines: it was found in monkeys from the Philippines in outbreaks that occurred in 1989-1990, 1992, and 1996.


The Ebola virus belongs to the Filoviridae family (filovirus) and is comprised of five distinct species: Zaïre, Sudan, Côte d'Ivoire, Bundibugyo and Reston. Zaïre, Sudan and Bundibugyo species have been associated with large Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) outbreaks in Africa with high case fatality ratio (25-90%) while Côte d'Ivoire and Reston have not. Reston species can infect humans but no serious illness or death in humans have been reported to date.

Since being informed of this event in late November, FAO, OIE and WHO have been making every effort to gain a better understanding of the situation and are working closely with the Philippines Government and local animal and human health experts.


The Department of Health of the Philippines has reported that initial laboratory tests on animal handlers and slaughterhouse workers who were thought to have come into contact with infected pigs were negative for Ebola-Reston infection, and that additional testing is ongoing. The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) of the Philippines Department of Agriculture has notified the OIE that all infected animals were destroyed and buried or burned, the infected premises and establishments have been disinfected and the affected areas are under strict quarantine and movement control. Vaccination of swine against PRRS is ongoing in the Province of Bucalan. PRRS is not transmissible to humans.


The planned joint FAO/OIE/WHO team will work with country counterparts to address, through field and laboratory investigation, important questions as to the source of the virus, its transmission, its virulence and its natural habitat, in order to provide appropriate guidance for animal and human health protection.


Basic good hygiene

Until these questions can be answered, the FAO and WHO stressed the importance of carrying out basic good hygiene practices and food handling measures.


Ebola viruses are normally transmitted via contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected animal or person. In all situations, even in the absence of identified risks, meat handling and preparation should be done in a clean environment (table top, utensils, knives) and meat handlers should follow good personal hygiene practices (e.g. clean hands, clean protective clothing). In general, hands should be regularly washed while handling raw meat.


Pork from healthy pigs is safe to eat as long as either the fresh meat is cooked properly (i.e. 70°C in all part of the food, so that there is no pink meat and the juices run clear), or, in the case of uncooked processed pork, national safety standards have been met during production, processing and distribution.

Meat from sick pigs or pigs found dead should not be eaten and should not enter the food chain or be given to other animals. Ill animals should be reported to the competent authorities and proper hygiene precautions and protection should be taken when destroying and disposing of sick or dead pigs. The Philippines Department of Agriculture has advised the Philippine public to buy its meat only from National Meat Inspection Services certified sources.


As a general rule, proper hygiene and precautionary measures (wearing gloves, goggles and protective clothing) should also be exercised when slaughtering or butchering pigs. This applies both to industrial and home-slaughtering of pigs. Children and those not involved in the process of slaughtering should be kept away.

Don't shake hands and avoid sex: Ugandan president's stark warning after Ebola kills 14

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181224/Ebola-Virus-Dont-shake-hands-avoid-sex-Ugandan-presidents-stark-warning-Ebola-kills-14.html#ixzz22H7U9iTb
By Rebecca Seales
PUBLISHED:| UPDATED: 
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has advised people to avoid shaking hands, casual sex and do-it-yourself burials to reduce the chance of contracting the deadly Ebola virus after an outbreak killed 14 people and put many more at risk.

Mr Museveni's advice came as scared patients and health workers fled a district hospital in rural western Uganda where several cases of Ebola were being treated.

The authorities are now trying to alter people's behaviour in a bid to stop the virus spreading.

'We discourage the shaking of hands because that can cause contact through sweat which can cause problems ... and avoid promiscuity because these sicknesses can also be transmitted through sex,' Mr Museveni said in a public statement.

There is no treatment for Ebola, which is transmitted by close contact and through body fluids such as saliva, vomit, faeces, sweat, semen and blood.

The authorities fear a repeat of the outbreak in 2000, the most devastating to date, when 425 people were infected, more than half of whom died.

The president said health workers believe the latest outbreak - which was confirmed on Friday - occurred about three weeks ago in Nyanswiga village. He added that doctors had initially thought the symptoms were atypical of Ebola.

Nyanswiga, in Kibaale district, is about 170 km (100 miles) west of the capital Kampala, near the Democratic Republic of Congo where the virus first emerged in 1976, taking its name from the Ebola River.





Monday 30 July 2012

Destructing us from Hillary Clinton’s Meeting with Museveni to discuss the next strategy to enhance US control of DR Congo Mineral Resources: Uganda bans physical contact as Ebola reaches Kampala business district


 

Hillary jets in to meet Museveni over the worsening security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: oh! Really

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/hillary-jets-in-to-meet-museveni-over.html

 

Uganda denies aiding Congo rebel fighters : If you look just a little bit more carefully, it is very easy to see the lies that drive the American New World Order System



 

The evil that humans do: Ebola Kills 14 in Kibale District of Uganda: Locals believed the illnesses were the result of an attack of evil spirits, send the sick for prayers


http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-evil-that-human-do-ebola-kills-14.html

 

LUWEERO EBOLA VICTIM FREQUENTED FOREST: OH! REALLY

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/05/luweero-ebola-victim-frequented-forest.html

 

Testing biological weapons on Ugandan Guinea pigs: Deadly Ebola virus breaks out in Luweero(Uganda)

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-biological-weapons-on-ugandan.html

 

A God Creation or a creation by human kind!!!!Mysterious Nodding Disease hits Northern Uganda




Uganda invites global experts over nodding disease: Oh really

 

 

Uganda bans physical contact as Ebola reaches Kampala business district

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Uganda+bans+physical+contact+as+Ebola+reaches+capital/-/688334/1466868/-/eprcmu/-/index.html

By Agencies 

Posted  Monday, July 30  2012 at  14:13
President Museveni on Monday banned all physical contact after a victim of a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus was reported in the capital Kampala for the first time.

"The Ministry of Health are tracing all the people who have had contact with the victims," Yoweri Museveni said in a state broadcast, adding that 14 people had died in total since Ebola broke out in western Uganda three weeks ago.

Two cases have since been reported in the capital, with one victim reported dead in Kampala's Mulago Hospital, he said, calling on people not to shake hands to avoid the spread of the killer virus.

"Ebola spreads by contact when you contact each other physically... avoid shaking of hands that can cause contact through sweat, which can cause problems," Museveni said.

"Do not take on burying somebody who has died from symptoms that look like Ebola -- instead call health workers because they know how to do it...avoid promiscuity because thiss sickness can also go through sex," he added.

Seven doctors and 13 health workers at Mulago hospital are in quarantine after "at least one or two cases" were taken there, with one later dying from the virus. 

The latest outbreak started in Uganda's western Kibaale district, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of the Kampala, and around 50 kilometres from the border with Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The rare haemorrhagic disease, named after a small river in DR Congo, killed 37 people in western Uganda in 2007 and claimed the lives of at least 170 people in the north of the country in 2000. 

"I wish you good luck, and may God rest the souls of those who died in eternal peace," Museveni added. 

Meanwhile, Health officials and other authorities in Kibaale are warning against social gatherings after an outbreak of Ebola in the district. 

Story Health officials and other authorities in Kibaale are warning against social gatherings after an outbreak of Ebola in the district.

The Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization on Saturday confirmed that the mysterious illness that has left 14 people dead, among them twelve family members is Ebola. This followed Laboratory investigations done at the Uganda Virus Research Institute which confirmed the disease.

The disease broke out about three weeks ago in an extended family of Yostus Isoke of Nyanswiga village Nyamarunda Sub County, killing him and his other eleven family members.

A clinical officer at Kagadi hospital Clare Muhumuza and her four month old baby also succumbed to the virus.

Muhumuza who treated most of the patients died on Tuesday at Mulago hospital, while her child died on Saturday.

 
Ebola: President warns against promiscuity, handshakes


Publish Date: Jul 30, 2012

By Conan Businge

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has cautioned all people in the country to be vigilant and avoid promiscuity, following the outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease in the Western Uganda district of Kibaale. 


Fourteen people have died, including one in Kampala, since the outbreak began three weeks ago. 


“I appeal to you to be vigilant, avoid shaking of hands; do not take on burying somebody who has died from symptoms which look like Ebola. Instead call the health workers to be the ones to do it (bury), and avoid promiscuity because these sicknesses can also go through sex.”


Ebola is a highly infectious disease, which presents with high grade fever and bleeding tendencies. It is very infectious, kills in a short time but can easily be prevented. 


The signs and symptoms of the disease include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, headache, measles-like rash, red eyes, and sometimes with bleeding from body openings.


It can be spread through direct physical contact with body fluids like saliva, blood, stool, vomit, urine and sweat from an infected person and soiled linen used by a patient. It can also be spread through using skin piercing instruments that have been used by an infected person.


In statement released this afternoon, the President also revealed that all the seven doctors that dealt with the Ebola patient who died in Mulago days ago, have been quarantined.


More other 13 health workers in Mulago, who were accompanying them, have also been quarantined, to avoid a likely spread of the diseases just in case they got infected. 

“This is to alert you about this new problem. The Ministry of Health has already announced the fact that samples taken from sick people and those who died, were confirmed at Entebbe, as Ebola,” added the statement. 

Health experts also add that a person can get it by getting in touch with a dead body of a person who has died of the disease.

“May God rest the souls of those who died in eternal peace,” added the President. 


 


Schools close over Ebola outbreak


Publish Date: Jul 30, 2012

By Vision team
A number of schools in Buyaga County have been closed following the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Kibale district.

The Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Ebola haemorrhagic fever in Kibaale District, over 200km west of Kampala.

The incurable disease, caused by a virus, has killed at least 13 people in Nyanswiga Village in Nyamarunda sub-county since it broke out three weeks ago. The affected families initially thought it was either witchcraft or evil spirits. As a result they took the first patients to Owobusubozi Bisaka’s shrine for prayers. Bisaka is the leader of a religious sect called Faith of Unity.  Two patients died in that shrine.

The disease presents with high fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and blood oozing from the mouth and nose at the time of death.

“Laboratory investigations carried out at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe have confirmed that the strange disease which has been reported for some time in Kibaale is indeed an Ebola variety,” Dr. Denis Lwamafa, acting director general of health services, told the press at the ministry headquarters.

Following confirmation of Ebola, health workers in Kibaale have taken over management of burials.

At Kagadi Hospital, an isolation ward was set up, where relatives are not allowed to attend to their patients for fear that they might contract the disease.

Dr. Joachim Saweka, the WHO country representative, said WHO Geneva would dispatch 2,000 sets of protective gear and body bags to prevent spread of the disease. Additional assistance is expected from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

There are five types of Ebola namely Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Côte d’Ivoire, Ebola Bundibugyo and  Ebola Reston. The type confirmed in Kibaale is Ebola Sudan, which is less deadly than Ebola Zaire. When Ebola Sudan broke out in Gulu in 2,000, about four out of every 10 patients were able to recover. On the contrary, Ebola Zaire inevitably kills most of the people who get it.

Meanwhile, fear gripped Mulago Hospital workers on Friday after it emerged that one of the patients who died there last week had come from Kibaale.

The patient, a 40-year-old woman named Clare Muhumuza, was received at Mulago on the evening of Friday June 20 and died within a few hours. She was the clinical officer treating the patients at Kagadi Hospital.

“She came to Mulago very sick and by morning she was dead. She suffered multiple organ failure,” said a senior doctor in Mulago.

Doctors and nurses in Mulago yesterday expressed fears that they had handled the patient without protection in ignorance.

Those who handled the patient are likely to be quarantined and observed closely for 21 days.

Currently Suzan Nabulya, a sister to the late Muhumuza, who was tending to her before she died, has been admitted at Kagadi Hospital while Muhumuza’s four month old baby, Milca Ninsima, has died.

Understanding Ebola

Cause:
Ebola is caused by a virus belonging to a family called filovirus. There are five distinct types of the virus namely Ebola Zaire, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Côte d’Ivoire, Ebola Bundibugyo and Ebola Reston.

Transmission: The disease is transmitted through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs, fluids or bodies of infected persons. Family members and health workers handling the patients can become infected easily if they do not wear protective facilities such as gloves and masks. Ebola is not air borne.

Symptoms: The average incubation period is 21 days. The disease is characterised by sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is often followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
Treatment: No specific treatment or vaccine is yet available for Ebola haemorrhagic fever. There is neither a cure nor a vaccine for Ebola. The patients are given symptomatic treatment to reduce pain and prevent dehydration. Several potential vaccines and drugs are being tested but it could take years before any is available.

How to protect yourself
Isolate suspected cases from other patients
 Wear gloves, goggles and masks while handling patients
Patients’ clothing should be disinfected with household bleach such as JIK
Areas contaminated with patient’s fluids should be disinfected with household bleach such as JIK
Avoid touching the bodies of those  who have died of Ebola
People who have died from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried

History in Uganda
By Carol Natukunda
Ebola has been in Africa since 1976, when it first broke out in present-day Democratic Republic of Congo near the River Ebola. The disease occurs throughout Central Africa and is suspected to be contracted through contact with monkeys and other primates of the jungle.

Uganda’s first outbreak was in Gulu District in 2000. It killed 170 people, and infected about 425 more. It was the first time the strain appeared in the country, and remains the largest documented epidemic so far.
At the peak of the epidemic in October 2000, Dr Matthew Lukwiya, medical superintendent of Lacor Hospital, died of the highly contagious disease. Twelve nurses also lost their lives after contracting the disease. It was reported that the health workers “came under risk from being overwhelmed with work”.
In Masindi District, there were five Ebola deaths and 24 confirmed cases. More Ebola cases were reported in nearly three districts including Kitgum and Mbarara. Six months after that year’s outbreak, Uganda was declared Ebola-free in February 2001.

The second outbreak was in November 2007 in the western Bundibugyo District. About 148 people were infected with the disease and 37 people killed. Among them was Dr. John Kule, an International Medical Group doctor who, like Lukwiya, struggled to treat victims putting his own life at risk. The outbreak was officially declared over on February 20, 2008.

In May 2011, the third outbreak was confirmed in Luwero District, 60km north of Kampala.  Two cases were confirmed, among them a 12-year-old girl who died shortly after being admitted at Bombo Military Hospital. The Government announced a month later that the deadly disease was under control as there was no confirmed case after May 6 when the first case was reported.


Suspected Ebola carriers hunted

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Suspected+Ebola+carriers+hunted/-/688334/1466564/-/11p335z/-/index.html

By FRANCIS MUGERWA & Agatha Ayebazibwe 

Posted  Monday, July 30  2012 at  01:33

Government has dispatched a team of doctors to hunt down and isolate people suspected of having come into contact with patients infected with the deadly Ebola virus in Kibaale district.

Some 20 people been infected by the virus by Saturday night, according to the district health officer Dr Dan Kyamanywa, of whom 14 have died.
Although no new infections had been reported by press time yesterday the race was on to isolate people who came into contact with those affected, in order to stop the highly infectious virus from spreading.

A team of physicians from the Health ministry, the US Centre for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation are in the district to assist local officials manage the outbreak.

Dr Kyamanywa said two patients admitted to an isolation ward at Kagadi Hospital are showing signs of recovery. “They were admitted with severe fever, abdominal pain and diarrhoea but they are in a fairly good condition,” he said.

The disease was first reported about two weeks ago in Nyanswiga Village, Nyamarunda Sub-county, after it killed 13 family members. Ms Claire Muhumuza, a clinical officer at Kagadi Hospital who was attending to the patients, also passed on last week.

Dr Kyamanywa said three patients have recovered and are under surveillance. District leaders joined medical officials in briefing the public about the disease in a two-hour talk show that was aired at Kagadi-Kibaale community radio on Saturday.
Dr Kyamanywa said a public awareness and sensitisation campaign has been rolled out to give measures of prevention from contracting the disease.

Background

There is no cure or vaccine for ebola, and in Uganda, where in 2000 the disease killed 224 people and left hundreds more traumatised, it resurrects terrible memories. There have been isolated cases since, such as in 2007 when an outbreak of a new strain of ebola killed at least 37 people in Bundibugyo, a remote district close to the Congolese border, but none as deadly as in 2000.
Ebola, which manifests itself as a hemorrhagic fever, is highly infectious and kills quickly. It was first reported in 1976 in Congo and is named for the river where it was recognised, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
A CDC factsheet on ebola indicates the disease is “characterised by fever, headache, joint and muscle aches, sore throat, and weakness, followed by diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain. A rash, red eyes, hiccups and bleeding may be seen in some patients.”


Hillary jets in to meet Museveni over the worsening security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: oh! Really


 

Fooling us about Uganda’s neutrality in the Congo Conflict!!! Militarizing the Congo to help USA and allies to rape Congo resources: DRC troops, civilians fleeing to Uganda after rebel clashes

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/fooling-us-about-ugandas-neutrality-in.html

 

THE THIRD WORLD AS A MODEL FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER

http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000156.htm



CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA: AWAKE! America and the American Church Are Not Your Friends

http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000234.htm


Hillary Clinton Warns Africa Of 'New Colonialism': Oh! Really

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/11/hillary-clinton-africa-new-colonialism_n_875318.html

 

Uganda denies aiding Congo rebel fighters : If you look just a little bit more carefully, it is very easy to see the lies that drive the American New World Order System




Former US President Bill Clinton to visit USA Slave states Uganda and Rwanda: Do not expect any mention on the Kagame’s rampant human rights abuses and Museveni’s clinging on to power




Protests as Clinton holds meetings in Egypt: Egyptian protesters threw tomatoes and shoes at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's motorcade Sunday and shouted, "Monica, Monica, Monica"


Hillary jets in to meet Museveni over DR Congo

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Hillary+jets+in+to+meet+Museveni+over+DR+Congo/-/688334/1465198/-/xkc5ujz/-/index.html

By TABU BUTAGIRA 

Posted  Sunday, July 29  2012 at  01:00
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is expected in the country on Thursday, to discuss with President Museveni the worsening security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, highly-placed sources have confirmed.

A diplomat, who asked not to be named because the secretary’s planned trip is still being kept secret for security reasons, said the two leaders will also discuss the uncertainty surrounding political transition when mandate of the Sheikh Sheriff-led Transitional Federal Government lapses next month.

Ms Elise Crane, the acting public affairs officer at the US Mission in Kampala, said when contacted on Friday, “We have no comment at this point in time.”

There is growing unease, according to one senior Uganda government official, among international actors that Somalia could slip into deeper anarchy and AU peacekeepers’ (Amisom) gains on peace restoration reversed, if the expected transition is mismanaged.

The Ugandan military constitutes the largest contingent of Amisom’s 17, 000 troops that has flushed al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab militants out of the Somali capital, Mogadishu and posted great battlefield successes on their chase in the countrywide.

The ungovernable DR Congo

http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/ThoughtIdeas/The+ungovernable+DR+Congo/-/689844/1465002/-/13i2orc/-/index.html

By John Njoroge 

Posted  Sunday, July 29  2012 at  01:00

In Summary
There are about 15 known rebel groups and countless other outfits that are vying for a piece of the mineral rich but troubled country.

The ‘inexplicable silence’- the Silence of indecision; by leaders in the Great Lakes Region, over the recurrent mayhem in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), seems to reverberate a consensus few commentators have dared utter in public; that the DR Congo cannot be governed as one.

Not that these leaders fail to go verbose castigating and condemning unrest but as the saying goes; “actions speak louder than words.” This uncomfortable silence is not only restricted to the region, but the entire African continent. World condemnation of the violence, the human rights violations, the thieving and plundering witnessed in the last 50 years, although welcome, has done little to stop the re-emergence of violence.

For 50 plus years, the DRC has been unstable and ungovernable. The Belgian King Leopold was star struck by Congo’s beauty, riches and enormity; he greedily curved it out for himself. “Congo-Kinshasa” is the third largest country in Africa. At 2,345,410 square kilometers (905,563 square miles), it shares borders with the Central African Republic, the Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, the Lake Tanganyika, Zambia, Angola, and the Republic of the Congo Brazzaville. It also has a small coastline of 37 kilometers (23 miles) on the South Atlantic Ocean.

It’s endowed with all manner of mineral wealth, petroleum, timber, natural gas and agricultural potential no nation in the entire world can match. In one region alone, the Katanga region, all manner of mineral wealth can be found, in some cases so close to the surface of the earth.

And so it has been that the entire world has had an involuntary attraction to this “Eden”. The most powerful governments and persons on earth have a finger in the Congo, waiting for the opportune moment “to tap”.

Eastern DRC most especially has seen some of the worst episodes of rebellion, violence and plunder the country has had to endure. To-date is not easy to get a proper audit of the numerous armed groups roaming its vast forest plundering and thieving. Some are merely armed tribesmen fighting each other while others are organized crime syndicates, hired guns working for barons.

Some notable groups, in Eastern Congo especially, have shown direct challenge to the authority of the DRC government. The latest clash that has seen over 80,000 Congolese refugees streaming into Uganda has been between army mutineers calling themselves the M23.

Actively and on the surface led by Col. Sultan Makenga, a former deputy to Gen. Laurent Nkunda’s CNDP, the M23 is a manifestation of Gen Nkunda’s former CNDP. The name originates from a March 23rd 2009 memorandum with the Kinshasa administration.

Witnessed and facilitated by former Tanzania president Benjamin Mkapa and former Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo the March 2009 agreement brought an end to the CNDP as politico-military movement.

Its members were to be immediately integrated into the Congolese National army and Congolese police. CNDP would then transform into a political party. Kinsasha would then release CNDP political prisoner and send them to their homes.

Electoral and political reforms were to be considered. Amnesty for past crimes by CNDP partisans was a subject to be tabled in parliament. Local tribunals were to be formed to resolve conflicts as government undertook to declare North and South Kivu disaster areas. It was also agreed that the Congolese government would immediately initiate the return of Congolese refugees and kick-start development project.

The memorandum hit a snag.

According to the M23 Political Coordinator Bishop Jean Marie Runinga, Kinshasa was adamant to live up to its side of the accord. Minority ethnic group that were now affiliated to the CNDP began to face persecution. At a barracks in Masisi, a punch-up ensued, ejecting Col Makenga and scores of other FARDC colonels into the bush. Several attempts at peace between Kinshasa and the mutineers have in the last three years hit a snag.

It’s once loyalist Gen Bosco Ntaganda, now wanted by the ICC for war crimes broke away from the group and formed his own splinter group comprising mainly of child soldiers. In the months that followed, Gen Ntaganda is said to have overseen the killing of several M23 loyalist, an act that has since infuriated his fellow mutineers.
In April the M23 unleashed terror, capturing strategic towns in Eastern DRC. By July, the group had taken over two Uganda-Congo border points and one Congo-Rwanda border point.

On July 11, the group unveiled its political wing and threatened to take over the town of Goma. The UN reacted by surrounding Goma and firing rockets in the Rumangabo hills, close to M23 frontlines. A recent UN report has accused neighbouring Rwanda of funning this conflict and supporting the M23. The United States subsequently slashed $200,000 in defense aid to the country and just a week later, its head of the US war crimes office Stephen Rapphas, warned Rwanda’s leaders, including President Paul Kagame, that they could face prosecution at the international criminal court for arming groups responsible for atrocities in the DRC.

Kigali has denied being complicit, saying the DRC has had its fair share of troubles over the decades. Rwanda’s incursion into Eastern DRC was, according to President Kagame, in search of the 1994 Rwanda genocidals, the FDLR who are hiding in the DRC.

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) comprises of EX- Rwanda forces of the Habyarimana regime, mainly composed of Hutu extremists- the Intarahamwe. Under the commander as Gen. Sylvestre Mudacumura, FDLR has controlled numerous splinter groups operating far apart between the North and South Kivu provinces in eastern Congo.

In south Kivu remnants of FDLR can be found in areas of Bunyakili, Walungu, Shabunda, Katale, Kalehe and Nyabiondo. In North Kivu, they are prominent in the areas of Walikale, Masisi, Rutshuru, Kiwanja and Lubero among others.

FDLR have been fighting FARDC- the Congolese government forces that have been in most cases pursuing the rebels along with the Rwandan Defence forces (RDF). Ugandan rebel groups, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Allied Defence Force (ADF) have from time to time made the DRC their centres of operation. In the process, they have also plundered raped and killed innocent Congolese civilians.

The Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) has made several incursions into the Congo in pursuit of these rebels, only they too allegedly became involved in plunder of the Congo’s resources. The list of rebels in the DRC is endless. Some groups we may never know. The UN has however maintained a presence in the Congo in form of two peacekeeping forces- Monuc and Monusco. Their mandate is, however, peace keeping and not enforcement. They have been accused of standing by as human rights violations are committed.

Congo’s 11 neighbours recently resolved to form a neutral force that would police the Eastern Congo to rid it of all these rebel groups. It is still not clear how this force will be constituted and where its pay will come from.

Fighting has resumed between M23 and government forces. The UN has said it will intervene if attacked and if civilian lives are at risk. Arguably however, this is the Congo’s biggest test of endurance since the ousting of Dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
jnjoroge@ug.nationmedia.com

 



Uganda denies aiding Congo rebel fighters : If you look just a little bit more carefully, it is very easy to see the lies that drive the American New World Order System


 

Fooling us about Uganda’s neutrality in the Congo Conflict!!! Militarizing the Congo to help USA and allies to rape Congo resources: DRC troops, civilians fleeing to Uganda after rebel clashes

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/fooling-us-about-ugandas-neutrality-in.html

 

THE THIRD WORLD AS A MODEL FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER

http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000156.htm



CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA: AWAKE! America and the American Church Are Not Your Friends

http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000234.htm

 

Seeing through the lies, hypocrisy and disinformation antics of the American New world system: US to cut military aid to Rwanda over support of Congo rebels: Oh really!

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/seeing-through-lies-hypocrisy-and.html

 

Hillary Clinton Warns Africa Of 'New Colonialism'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/11/hillary-clinton-africa-new-colonialism_n_875318.html


Kagame , The USA Darling and African economic model who violates human rights with impunity :The danger of running from one USA client state and hiding in another USA slave state : Former Kagame bodyguard attacked in Uganda

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/kagame-usa-darling-and-african-economic.html

 

Kagame may be charged with aiding war crimes – US: Oh! really

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/kagame-may-be-charged-with-aiding-war.html

 

Rwanda gives DR Congo back tonnes of smuggled minerals

 

Uganda denies aiding Congo rebel fighters

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Uganda+denies+aiding+Congo+rebel+fighters/-/688334/1466558/-/3kdlz/-/index.html

The government has denied reports that it is supporting the M23 rebel group fighting against Kinshasa in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Highly placed sources told Daily Monitor that President Museveni was in touch with his counterpart, Joseph Kabila, over the matter last week and clarified that Uganda had not taken sides in the matter.

Mr Kabila told Congolese state television on Saturday that he had questioned Uganda over its alleged support for the rebel M23 movement, and that Kampala had denied any involvement, the AFP news agency reported yesterday.

Kabila’s first public comments on the matter came on the same day he sent a special envoy to deliver a message to President Museveni.

Mr Alexander Luba Tembo, DRC’s vice prime minister and Defence minister, delivered the message to President Museveni at his country home in Rwakitura.

A press statement from State House said the two officials “discussed a number of issues of mutual interest between the DRC and Uganda and particularly deliberated on the security situation in Eastern DRC”.

Sources familiar with the matter told Daily Monitor the Congolese special envoy showed evidence of what Kinshasa claims is Rwanda’s support to the M23 rebels.

Kigali denies the allegation, which was also made in a report by a UN Group of Experts appointed to investigate the insecurity in the war-rife eastern DR Congo.

President Kabila on Saturday repeated claims by his government on Kigali’s alleged involvement in the fighting, including the alleged presence of military forces from the country.

“As for Rwanda’s presence, that is an open secret,” Kabila said in his first public comments on the matter. “Can diplomacy be the answer? In any case there are three roads to a solution: military, political and diplomatic, or all three at the same time.”

Government officials have been keen to distance themselves from reports of sightings of UPDF soldiers in DR Congo.

No interest in war
Kampala is keen to avoid getting drawn into a third war in Congo. Relations with Kinshasa have improved in recent years and DR Congo has granted the UPDF limited permission to hunt down the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels hiding in parts of the vast neighbouring country.

Although the Allied Democratic Front rebel group maintains bases in eastern DR Congo, senior military and intelligence officials say Uganda is very reluctant to “get drawn back into Congo either directly or through proxies”.


Despite robust denials by Kigali, Rwanda’s alleged involvement in the conflict has already drawn criticism from the United States, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands which have all either cut or suspended aid over the matter.


US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected in Kampala this week to meet President Museveni over regional security, including DR Congo and Somalia.

President Museveni is also expected to convene a summit on the region’s security in early August by virtue of his current chairmanship of the International Conference of the Great Lakes’ Region.

The conference offers a forum for 10 countries in the region, including Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Angola, the Central African Republic, DR Congo, Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya and Sudan to discuss security matters.
jnjoroge@ug.nationmedia.com



The evil that humans do: Ebola Kills 14 in Kibale District of Uganda: Locals believed the illnesses were the result of an attack of evil spirits, send the sick for prayers



TUSKEGEE Part II in Africa: HIV Vaccine trials on Ugandan guinea pigs: 250 Ugandan women for vaginal ring anti-HIV study




FIRST READ:

THE DRUG EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES,
EBOLA, AND AIDS
[IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!]


http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000081.htm



Ebola Kills 14 in Kibale District




MUST WATCH:


Emerging Viruses: Aids & Ebola - Nature, Accident or Intentional?


www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-VhkR9FGvA


Ebola Outbreak in Uganda Kills 14

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444226904577557053543760564.html

 

By Nicholas Bariyo And Betsy Mckay


KAMPALA, Uganda—The world's first major outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever since 2009 has killed at least 14 of 20 people infected in a remote area of midwestern Uganda.

International health officials are rushing to respond to the outbreak, which erupted at the beginning of July but was identified as the deadly Ebola virus only on Friday, meaning it potentially spread substantially before being caught.

A team of responders from the Ugandan government, the World Health Organization, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, was dispatched Friday to the affected region—the Kibaale district, a forested area about 125 miles west of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and near the Democratic Republic of the Congo border.

The outbreak started and spread first within one family, said Rukia Nakamate, a spokeswoman for the Ugandan Ministry of Health. Initially, locals believed the illnesses were the result of an attack of evil spirits rather than one of the deadliest viruses known to man, and took the patients to a Christian religious shrine for prayers, where the first two victims died, she said.

"Some of the victims came into contact with many people, including churchgoers," she said.

Once Ebola was suspected, a patient sample was sent to a special laboratory recently established and maintained by the Uganda Virus Research Institute and the CDC to identify and study Ebola and other deadly viral hemorrhagic fevers in central Africa.

The lab received that sample on Thursday, followed by three other samples, and confirmed results Friday, said Stephan Monroe, chief of the CDC's Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology in Atlanta.

The dead thus far include nine members of the one family; Clare Muhumuza, a clinical officer who treated one of the initial patients, and Ms. Muhumuza's 4-month-old daughter, Uganda's Ministry of Health.

Ms. Muhumuza's sister, who tended to her when she fell ill, also contracted the disease and is in "fairly stable" condition, through still experiencing fever, diarrhea and vomiting, according to a Ministry of Health statement. A female member of the initial family is in stable condition but also still experiencing symptoms, the ministry said.

Panic has gripped the region where the outbreak was confirmed, prompting scores of locals to flee their homes, the Ministry of Health said.

While the Kibaale district is far from Kampala, Ms. Muhumuza was treated at a hospital in the capital, home to at least four million residents. The possibility that the disease may have reached the capital has sparked some concerns, Ugandan and international officials said. Medical officials didn't handle Ms. Muhumuza's body with protective gear after her death because her ailment hadn't been confirmed, Ms. Nakamate said.

Because the outbreak is in a "fairly remote area, the chance for widespread transmission is not great," Dr. Monroe said. Still, that it might reach Kampala is "always a concern," he added.

Ebola occurs throughout central Africa. There is no vaccine or cure, and its ultimate source isn't known, though the hypothesis is that its reservoir—where it is maintained naturally—is in bats, said Dr. Monroe.

The disease was first reported in 1976 and named for the river in Congo where it was first recognized. Ebola is rare but extremely deadly; the most lethal strain has killed as many as 89% of those it infected, though death rates vary widely among outbreaks.

The current outbreak was identified as caused by a strain believed to be somewhat less virulent, known as Ebola Sudan. Still, in the largest recorded Ebola outbreak, which occurred in Uganda in 2000 and 2001, that strain killed 224, or 53%, of 425 people infected.

The previous most recent outbreak of Ebola occurred in Congo in late 2008 and early 2009, infecting 32 people, with 15 deaths. Ebola caused the death of a 12-year-old girl last year in Uganda, but the disease didn't spread.

The cause of the current outbreak isn't yet known, though Ebola is normally contracted through contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of infected monkeys—who may have become infected by bats, researchers hypothesize.

Once the virus infects a human, it spreads to others through contact with the blood, urine, or other bodily fluids of the infected person, putting family members, hospital staff, and others who tend to the ill at risk.Infected people remain contagious even after they are dead—a challenge because traditional funeral rites in Uganda call for touching a loved one's body. The lab in Uganda that confirmed the virus is the only one in the region to be able to test for Ebola; previously samples had to be shipped elsewhere, taking valuable time. The nearest labs able to test for Ebola aside from the new one in Uganda are in South Africa and Gabon, and getting samples to them would take a minimum of two days and involve special expertise in packing and shipping, Dr. Monroe said.

An isolation ward has been set up at Kagadi hospital in Kibaale, and relatives aren't allowed to attend to patients suspected of infection with Ebola, said Denis Lwamafa, director of health services for the Ugandan Ministry of Health.

The government is awaiting at least 2,000 sets of protective clothing and body bags from the World Health Organization to contain the spread of the disease, he said.

The CDC is preparing to send additional experts, including a team of epidemiologists and a laboratory expert, pending a formal request from Uganda's Ministry of Health, Dr. Monroe said. They will help identify cases, trace possible contacts, help strengthen infection-control practices in hospitals, and educate people about how to bury their loved ones without infecting themselves.

 

Anxiety as Ebola returns


Written by SADAB KITATTA KAAYA

Sunday, 29 July 2012 20:41

Family of 12 wiped out; death toll at 14 in Kibaale district
Medical authorities in the western district of Kibaale were today investigating more suspected cases of Ebola, as haemorrhagic fever returned, causing anxiety around the country. Unofficial sources at Kagadi hospital, the main health facility in Kibaale, said more suspected cases were being investigated, but officials would not comment by press time.

By Saturday six people had been admitted with the disease. Ebola manifests as a haemorrhagic fever, is highly infectious and kills quickly.  Signs and symptoms of the disease include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, headache, measles-like rash, red eyes, and – sometimes – with bleeding from body openings. People in the district, in Bunyoro sub-region, have been troubled by the mysterious illness, until last Saturday when health authorities confirmed it was Ebola haemorrhagic fever.

By press time, 14 people were known to have died from the fever, including an entire family of 12, in Nyanswiga village, Nyamarunda sub-county. In a statement, Dr Denis Lwamafa, Commissioner National Disease Control in the ministry of Health, said the fever had been confirmed after tests at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe.

Lwamafa said the first case was reported on July 6.  The dead include a clinical officer and her four-month-old baby, who passed away at Mulago hospital. Yesterday the permanent secretary in the ministry of Health, Dr Asuman Lukwago, sought to assure the country that authorities were doing everything to keep the situation under control.

Speaking on the Kampala-based Radio One, Lukwago said with mass movement of people, as has happened with Congolese refugees who have fled to Uganda because of fighting in their country, diseases can break out. He, however, said authorities were monitoring the situation in western Uganda, while people who recently visited Kibaale would be assisted once they reported to medical authorities.

Twelve of the dead belonged to the family of Yostus Isoke of Nyanswiga village, Nyamarunda sub-county. They include Isoke himself; his five children – Byaruhanga Isoke, Fred Isoke, Roggers Byaruhanga, Doreen Nantongo and an unidentified son.  Also among the dead is Lovinsa Kabwimukya, 42, a sub county councilor for people with disabilities in Nyamarunda sub-county council.

The family at first complained of being bewitched and at one stage resorted to visiting witch-doctors. One of the victims is reported to have died in a shrine. Because of the deaths, many people have abandoned the bereaved families for fear of losing lives. Dr Joseph Wamala, a senior epidemiologist in the ministry of health, identified the type of Ebola reported in Kibaale district as Sudan Ebola, which is less deadily than Ebola Zaire.

Other types of Ebola are Ebola Zaire, Ebola Cote d’Ivore, Ebola Bundibugyo and Ebola Reston  Ebola can be spread through direct physical contact with body fluids like saliva, blood, stool, vomit, urine and sweat from an infected person and soiled linen used by a patient. One can get it from contact with the body of a person who has died of the disease.

This is the third time a major Ebola outbreak is reported in Uganda in 12 years. In 2000, Ebola killed 224 people, including a prominent physician fighting it, Dr Matthew Lukwiya. In 2007, Ebola struck again, in Bundibugyo district; this time it claimed at least 38 people; they included Dr Jonah Kule and two other medical workers.

Precautionary measures

Dr Lwamafa urged the public to take precautionary measures to avert the spread of the disease. “We have set up a national emergency taskforce to contain the disease from spreading far and wide” Dr Lwamafa said.

He warns against unnecessary contact with suspected people especially during communal funerals and parties. As part of the precautionary measures, he said the ministry of Health has started active and sustained tracing and listing of people that may have been exposed to suspected and confirmed cases since July 6, 2012.


Precautionary measures to contain Ebola
•  Report and immediately take any suspected patient to a nearby health unit
•  Avoid direct contact with body fluids of a person suffering from Ebola by using protective materials like gloves and masks
•  Disinfect the bedding and clothing of an infected person
•  Persons who have died of Ebola must be handled with strong protective wear and buried immediately, avoid feasting and funerals
•  Avoid eating dead animals especially monkeys
•  Avoid public gathering especially in the affected district
•  Burial of suspicious community deaths should be done under close supervision of district health workers
•  Report all suspicious deaths to the health workers

 


Happy Science Uganda files defence in sh121m suit


FIRST READ:


Contentious religion from Japan succeeds in Uganda




HAPPY SCIENCE CULT TAKES ROOT IN UGANDA: THE LEADERSHIP OF WATOTO CHURCH WARNS UGANDANS ABOUT RYUHO OKAWA SATURDAY 23-6-12 LECTURE




Thousands flock Happy Science lecture




Ridiculous !!! Ugandan Clerics call for the limitation of freedom of worship in the wake of the Happy Science cult


http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/06/ridiculous-ugandan-clerics-call-for.html




Happy Science Uganda files defence in sh121m suit



Publish Date: Jul 30, 2012

By Vision reporter
Happy Science Uganda will file a defence against a sh121m claim in the commercial court by African Secrets Limited.

The defence will be filed through lawyers Kalenge and company advocates. African Secrets Limited sued Happy Science Uganda for what it claims was outstanding balance for the buses it provided on June 23 when the Happy Science spiritual leader visited the country for a conference.

In the defence lawyers say African Secrets Limited failed to provide the promised number of buses to transport people to the Nambole Stadium on 23 on behalf of Happy Science. The lawyers therefore want African Secrets to pay damages to Happy Science accrued as a result of the breach of the contract.

African Secrets Ltd. claims in its suit that it deliverd 120 buses for the conference. However Happy Science claims that only 89 buses were provided despite the bus company's promise to provide 260 buses.

The lawyers for Happy Science Uganda are  also considering counter-suing African Secrets Limited for breach of the contract.

Friday 27 July 2012

TUSKEGEE Part II in Africa: HIV Vaccine trials on Ugandan guinea pigs: 250 Ugandan women for vaginal ring anti-HIV study


Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. (Jeremiah 17)


My Advice
The bible says that Cursed is he who trusts in man. The bible also says the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Therefore do not trust in carnal solutions to HIV. The only solution to avoiding the HIV virus is becoming born again. As a born again Christian, abstain from sex if you are not married and be faithful to your wife if you are married. Getting circumcised or washing your genitals after sex is all bogus advise.

Do not, I repeat DO NOT participate in HIV trials because even if the trials are successful, it is the west that will benefit. The African as always are simply being used as guinea pigs  in these trials. The purpose of these trials is to help drug companies to reap profits from HIV medicines. These so called scientists who are behind the circumcision crusade and HIV vaccine trials are working in the interests of the American New world order system and its pharmaceutical companies. 
They are not interested in you, but only want HIV spread to increase so that American and European Companies can reap profits. HIV is a creation of the USA military and the US is using it as a political weapon to control the poor of the world. They confuse African countries that they are helping out on HIV/AIDS while in reality they robbing African mineral resources.  

 

FIRST READ:

THE DRUG EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES,
EBOLA, AND AIDS
[IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!]


http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000081.htm



UNETHICAL MEDICAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA Funded or Assisted by US-Based Institutions and/or US Government NON-CONSENSUAL RESEARCH IN AFRICA THE OUTSOURCING OF TUSKEGEE Part II






Randomized controlled trials for HIV/AIDS prevention among men and women in Africa: untraced infections, unasked questions, and unreported data




Since when did the HIV creators become passionate about HIV spread: US Embassy in Kampala says Circumcision does reduce HIV spread



MUST WATCH:


Emerging Viruses: Aids & Ebola - Nature, Accident or Intentional?


www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-VhkR9FGvA

 

Drive to End AIDS in U.S. Stalls as Epidemic Grips Blacks

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/drive-to-end-aids-in-us-stalls-as.html

 

US cannot continue funding treatment and care yet more and more Ugandans are getting infected: Oh! really

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/06/us-cannot-continue-funding-treatment.html

 

President Museveni makes another attack on Uganda’s Bogus Circumcision Crusade

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/president-museveni-makes-another-attack.html

 

How strange! Why is AIDS a "gay disease" in the United States, but not in Uganda, or Zaire, or Rwanda, or - for that matter - anywhere else in the world? Why only in the United States? No one in the government has ever offered a satisfactory explanation for this - until recently when a few brave researchers began to follow the path suggested by the Soviets in the late 1980s; specifically, the connection between certain HB virus studies in the United States (specifically in New York and San Francisco in the late 1970s and early 1980s) and in Africa (mainly in Zaire) shortly thereafter. The studies were carried out under the auspices of WHO (the World Health Organization) and Merck Pharmaceuticals. What brought these studies to the attention of researchers like Seale, Servin and Segal is that wherever these vaccinations were carried out, shortly thereafter an outbreak of AIDS occurred - and in the same population that the studies had targeted: gays in the United States, and heterosexuals in Africa. In the United States, AIDS has remained largely a "gay disease" because of the "closed" or "contained" nature of the gay community, while in Africa - where the experiments with the HB vaccines were carried out in the general population - AIDS became a heterosexual phenomenon.http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000081.htm


250 Ugandan women for anti-HIV study




Thursday, 26 July 2012 23:58

Written by KAKAIRE AYUB KIRUNDA

Uganda has started screening women to participate in a multi-country HIV prevention trial testing the use of a vaginal ring at the Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration (MUJHU CARE LTD) clinical research site, Mulago. The project, A Study to Prevent Infection with a Ring for Extended Use (ASPIRE), is a Phase III study that seeks to determine whether the use of a vaginal ring containing the antiretroviral drug dapivirine is a safe and effective method that protects against HIV infection among sexually active women at high risk.

Speaking in Kampala on Tuesday, ahead of the formal announcement later in the evening, at the ongoing 19th International Aids Conference in Washington, DC, the site Principal Investigator, Dr Flavia Matovu Kiweewa, said about 250 Ugandan participants will be among the 3,476 women targeted across 18 sites in South Africa, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“They will be randomized to receive either the 25mg dapivirine vaginal ring or a placebo vaginal ring,” Kiweewa said, adding that the participants would use the product for a maximum of 24 months.

“If proven effective, vaginal rings will only need to be replaced once every month — it’s like remembering to buy sanitary pads once every month — compared to taking a pill daily or relying on your partner to wear a condom.”

Dapivirine, according to Dr Kiweewa, was chosen because it demonstrated a potential for development as a microbicide, given its potency and fast-acting properties.
ASPIRE is one of the two effective studies of a long-acting microbicide.

The International Partnership for Microbicides is conducting another study called The Ring Study, in parallel with ASPIRE, at four sites in South Africa and one in Rwanda.

The studies come at a time when there are renewed efforts by scientists to find more prevention technologies, the latest being Truvada, a drug for pre-exposure prophylaxis in high-risk groups such as discordant couples.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved Truvada on July 16 and the World Health Organisation this week responded by issuing guidelines on the usage of the drug. It must be used in combination with other existing protective methods such as condom use.

Unlike in the early years when Uganda registered substantive efforts in the prevention of HIV/Aids, the country’s efforts have recently suffered a setback. The 2011 Aids indicator survey showed that HIV prevalence has risen to 7.3 percent from 6.4 per cent in 2006.

Experts blamed the rise on complacency and government’s failure to make use of evidence-based interventions. Ending the global HIV/Aids pandemic will only be possible if a multifaceted global effort that expands testing, treatment, and prevention programmes is implemented, according to a viewpoint in the July 25 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/Aids, released ahead of the ongoing International AIDS Conference in the US.

akakaire@gmail.com

Uganda, 1989-ongoing: Study of HIV transmission and HIV-related mortality in a large rural cohort



Study Name: Rakai Community Cohort Study


US research organization: Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University


US funders: NIH, Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, John Snow Inc.


Offenses


Not protecting participants (HIV negative partners of HIV-positive men or women): Following HIV discordant couples (only one infected) not aware of their situation to observe spouse-to-spouse HIV transmission. During1994-98, the project followed 415 discordant couples, recording 90 new infections in formerly HIV-negative spouses (Quinn et al, N Eng J Med2000). In a large subsample of these couples “56% of HIV-1-positive partners…had requested and received HIV counseling, and 25% stated that they had informed their spouses” (p 1152, Gray et al, Lancet 2001).


Not protecting participants (HIV-negative babies of HIV-positive mothers): Following pregnant and breastfeeding HIV-positive women not aware they are infected and their babies. During 1994-98, the study identified 725 HIV- positive pregnant women. Only 49% of all pregnant women received their test results (Gray et al, Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001). The project followed babies to age 2 years, determining that 16% were infected before or during birth and 16% during a median 20 months of breastfeeding (Brahmbhatt et al, J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2006). Prevention of mother-to-child transmission was possible: In 1994, the US Public Health Service recommended Zidovudine to reduce mother-to-child transmission by two- thirds (Lurie and Wolfe, N Eng J Med 1997). Even if this intervention is deemed too difficult for Uganda, the project could have protected infants by warning HIV-positive mothers to avoid breastfeeding after 6 months.



Not protecting participants (HIV-positive adults): Following participants who are not aware they are HIV-positive and without offering prophylaxis for opportunistic infections or antiretroviral therapy to record HIV-related sickness and death. During annual home visits, the study team examined and asked participants for symptoms characteristic of opportunistic infections and recorded deaths. During 1994-98, the death rate for HIV-positive adults was 19.8 time greater than for HIV-negative adults. Survival with AIDS was often less than 1 year (Sewankambo et al, AIDS 2000). Not until the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) arrived in 2004 did the study arrange antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV-positive participants.




Remembering Tuskegee:  Syphilis Study Still Provokes Disbelief, Sadness


July 25, 2002 --Thirty years ago today, the Washington Evening Star newspaper ran this headline on its front page: "Syphilis Patients Died Untreated." With those words, one of America's most notorious medical studies, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, became public.


"For 40 years, the U.S. Public Health Service has conducted a study in which human guinea pigs, not given proper treatment, have died of syphilis and its side effects," Associated Press reporter Jean Heller wrote on July 25, 1972. "The study was conducted to determine from autopsies what the disease does to the human body."


The next morning, every major U.S. newspaper was running Heller's story. For Morning Edition, NPR's Alex Chadwick reports on how the Tuskegee experiment was discovered after 40 years of silence.


The Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began the study in 1932. Nearly 400 poor black men with syphilis from Macon County, Ala., were enrolled in the study. They were never told they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the men were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue.


For participating in the study, the men were given free medical exams, free meals and free burial insurance.


At the start of the study, there was no proven treatment for syphilis. But even after penicillin became a standard cure for the disease in 1947, the medicine was withheld from the men. The Tuskegee scientists wanted to continue to study how the disease spreads and kills. The experiment lasted four decades, until public health workers leaked the story to the media.


By then, dozens of the men had died, and many wives and children had been infected. In 1973, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed a class-action lawsuit. A $9 million settlement was divided among the study's participants. Free health care was given to the men who were still living, and to infected wives, widows and children.


But it wasn't until 1997 that the government formally apologized for the unethical study. President Clinton delivered the apology, saying what the government had done was deeply, profoundly and morally wrong:


"To the survivors, to the wives and family members, the children and the grandchildren, I say what you know: No power on Earth can give you back the lives lost, the pain suffered, the years of internal torment and anguish.


"What was done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eye and finally say, on behalf of the American people: what the United States government did was shameful. "And I am sorry."


OH! Really: Ugandans highly knowledgeable about HIV vaccine and willing to participate in future trials


Education still necessary to combat vaccine misconceptions


A majority of Ugandan study participants are familiar with the benefits of vaccines and are willing to participate in future HIV-preventive vaccine trails, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions. This is one of the first studies of its kind to assess the willingness of a general population in a developing country to participate in HIV vaccine trials. The Rakai district of Uganda is a potential site for phase 3 HIV-preventive vaccine trials in the future. Researchers also found that many study participants had multiple misconceptions about the disease and vaccines. The study, "Knowledge About Vaccines and Willingness to Participate in Preventive HIV Vaccine Trials: A Population-Based Study, Rakai, Uganda" was published in the June 1, 2004, issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.


Ronald H. Gray, MBBS, MSc, co-author of the study and a professor in the School's Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, said, "There is a high level of willingness to participate in HIV vaccine research in this population. However, initiation of vaccine trials will require intensive education efforts to dispel misconceptions and irrational fears about adverse effects on fertility."


The researchers completed initial and follow-up interviews with 10,312 people in Rakai, Uganda, aged 15-49 years. In between interviews, the study participants were educated on vaccines in general and potential HIV-preventive vaccines. Seventy-one percent of the study population was aware of the preventive function of vaccines and 77 percent were willing to participate in HIV-preventive vaccine trials. The researchers also learned that most of the study participants thought vaccines were only appropriate for children and women. Only 28 percent of those interviewed thought adult men could receive vaccines and 61 percent of male study participants thought men should not receive vaccines. The researchers hypothesized that this belief is typical because vaccinations in the area are mainly given to children and pregnant women. Almost 8 percent of participants thought vaccines were lethal and 2 percent thought vaccines caused fever/illness. In addition, only 12 percent of those interviewed thought HIV was a serious problem, even though Rakai has a 15 percent prevalence of the disease.


The researchers found that village-based health meetings worked in educating study participants on HIV vaccines. The researchers said they believe village meetings would be effective in the future to reinforce the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic and to educate the community on vaccines. HIV vaccine awareness increased from 68 percent at the time of the first interview to 81 percent at follow-up meetings. Even after emphasizing preventive vaccines, 60 percent of study participants still thought that HIV-infected individuals could participate in vaccine trials.


"Although vaccine knowledge and willingness to participate in trials are high in this population, there is still a need for education on the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the role of potential, preventive HIV vaccines and the importance of vaccines for men," said Dr. Gray.




The study was supported by grants from the Department of the Army, United States Army Medical Research and Material Command Cooperative Agreement, Henry M. Jackson Foundation and Fogarty Foundation.


Noah Kiwanuka, MD, ChB, MPH, Merlin Robb, MD, Godfrey Kigozi, MB, ChB, MPH, Deborah Birx, MD, MS, James Philips, MD, PhD, Fred Wabwire-Mangen, MD, MPH, PhD, Maria J. Wawer, MD, MSc, Fred Nalugoda, Bstat, MHS, Nelson K. Sewankambo and David Serwadda coauthored the study.

Also See,
US Milatary HIV study Programme for Africans : Oh! Really

Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) Circumcises 375 Ugandan Men


Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) Circumcises 375 Ugandan Men


HIV Prevention: Blinded by Profit or Paid Not to See?

http://hivinkenya.blogspot.com/2012/04/hiv-prevention-blinded-by-profit-or.html


We have been hearing a lot recently about various HIV treatment and prevention strategies that will significantly increase the quantities of HIV drugs produced and sold. For example, the US DHHS recommends starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV positive people at a relatively early stage of disease progression. One might think that such decisions are made on the basis of scientific evidence and concensus among medical practitioners. But Joseph Sonnabend shows that this is not necessarily so.


Dr Sonnabend finds that 'expert opinion' in this instance refers to that of DHHS panel members, most of whom have a financial interest in selling more drugs. There are many experts who would not agree that starting ART early has a net benefit, but they don't sit on the panel. There is scientific evidence for the benefits of starting later, but none for those of starting earlier. Basing such decisions on the expert opinion of a few people is bad enough; expert opinion should never trump scientific evidence. But when most of the experts can also benefit financially from the recommendation as well, there is a clear conflict of interest.


ART must be taken for life and has side-effects, only some of which are currently recognized. It is also expensive and life changing. And there is the issue of the virus developing resistance to the cheaper drugs that people usually take at first. Resistant strains of HIV can be transmitted, so there could be a snowball effect here. We already know what can happen when drugs are overprescribed and adherence is poor from the case of antibiotics and perhaps malaria medication. So this is not a minor issue about precription recommendations. In contexts where HIV is common, it could profoundly affect the course of the epidemic.


It's fashionable enough these days to claim that 'treatment is prevention', but as Dr Sonnabend points out, it is those who have reached a later stage of disease progression who are most likely to transmit HIV. Therefore, the preventive value of ART will only be high for partners of people who start treatment at a later stage. Treatment at an earlier stage will be less relevant, perhaps irrelevant, and the benefits have not been shown to outweigh the risks. While it may be empowering to provide people with the drugs they demand, it is only so if they are also informed about the known effects of those drugs, in addition to the hypothesized ones.


WHO has also made a recommendation that similarly serves the interests of Big Pharma. As the English Guardian reports, "Aids drugs should be given immediately to anyone with HIV who has an uninfected partner, to stop transmission and slow the epidemic". As mentioned above, this is unlikely to slow the epidemic much and could have many drawbacks which have, as yet, not been investigated. Resistance rates are steady enough to guarantee that people taking relatively cheap (but still grossly overpriced) first line drugs will gradually need outrageously overpriced second line, and even third line drugs. And resistance will eventually develop in second and third line drugs too, as they have found in Uganda. Quite a virtuous cycle for Big Pharma!


Far from just being used to treat HIV positive people and to prevent transmission to HIV negative people, ART programs appear to have the effect of drawing attention away from possible HIV risks. How has a virus that is difficult to transmit heterosexually infected, for example, 43% of adult women in Mozambique and nearly 38% of adult men? There are clearly non-sexual risk factors involved, but what are they? If diseases such as malaria, TB, intestinal parasites and the like are involved, for example, they urgently need to be treated and prevented, which can be done cheaply and relatively safely. But if the virus is being transmitted through unsafe healthcare practices, showering people with drugs is a misdirected effort and may not even reduce transmission.


The relative contributions of all risks need to be identified, whether they relate to sexual or non-sexual transmission. But putting more and more people on drugs while ignoring possible risks is not the way to eradicate the virus. Two things that are blind to the causes of HIV transmission and to appropriate prevention strategies are drugs and high profits. Of course, Big Pharma make drugs and big industries, especially the HIV industry, make profits. But the problem is when profit is seen as the only goal and treatment is seen as a mere step to be taken in the pursuit of profit. As for prevention, the industry seems to be looking for ways of making money out of it rather than for how best to achieve it.




Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) Circumcises 375 Ugandan Men

Ugandan Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga launched Parliament Health Week on December 5 with a call to rejuvenate the national fight against HIV and cancer. As part of its programming, Parliament invited the U.S. Mission-supported Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP) to provide Safe Male Circumcision (SMC) services to Members of Parliament and staff during the health fair, held on Parliament grounds from December 5-8, 2011.

During Health Week, the MUWRP surgical team circumcised 375 men, including three Members of Parliament. As the week progressed, so did demand for services; the team circumcised 63 males on Tuesday, 83 on Wednesday, 91 on Thursday, and 88 on Friday. The SMC package included a physical exam, voluntary HIV counseling and testing, education about SMC, screening and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and clear post-surgical instructions. After the health fair, MUWRP staff followed up with participants to ensure they had no adverse effects from the procedure.

MUWRP is a non-profit partnership between Makerere University and the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), which is part of the greater effort to advance HIV research, prevention, care, and treatment in Uganda. MHRP has been conducting HIV research in Uganda since 1998. In 2005, MHRP expanded its portfolio to include prevention, care and treatment activities under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The bible says that Cursed is he who trusts in man. The bible also says the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Therefore do not trust in carnal solutions to HIV. The only solution to avoiding the HIV virus is becoming born again. As a born again Christian, abstain from sex if you are not married and be faithful to your wife if you are married. Getting circumcised or washing your genitals after sex is all bogus advise. Do not, I repeat DO NOT participate in HIV trials because even if the trials are successful, it is the west that will benefit. The African as always are simply being used as guinea pigs  in these trials. The purpose of these trials is to help drug companies to reap profits from HIV medicines. These so called scientists who are behind the circumcision crusade and HIV vaccine trials are working in the interests of the American New world order system and its pharmaceutical companies. They are not interested in you, but only want HIV spread to increase so that American and European Companies can reap profits. HIV is a creation of the USA military and the US is using it as a political weapon to control the poor of the world. They confuse African countries that they are helping out on HIV/AIDS while in reality they robbing African mineral resources.  

Scientists hunting for an AIDS vaccine may be getting close: oh! really



By Alyssa A. Botelho,

Scientists compare the hunt for an AIDS vaccine to the search for the Holy Grail. And for three decades, it has proved to be about as difficult to find.

Since Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier identified HIV — the virus that causes AIDS — in 1983, only three vaccine trials have been completed. The first failed to prevent or control infection. The second also failed, mysteriously increasing infection. The third, completed in 2009, provided protection to only about a third of the people receiving it — but how it did that is still unknown.

Yet, leaders in AIDS vaccine research say they may finally be on the cusp of a period of major discovery leading to a vaccine.

“The past few years have been a turning point,” said Gary Nabel, director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “I’m more optimistic than I’ve probably ever been in my career.”

The optimism stems from recent strides in understanding antibodies — the first weapons the human immune system deploys to fight an infection.

When a person is exposed to the AIDS virus, the immune system churns out millions of antibodies to fight it. HIV shakes off the vast majority of them, so researchers are focused on the remaining minority. These “broadly neutralizing” antibodies bind powerfully to HIV’s outer shell and prevent the virus from invading cells.

Until recently, scientists had been able to identify only four such antibodies. But in the past three years, they have worked out the structures of nearly two dozen, and they have developed the technology to find more.

If they can trigger these antibodies in healthy people, researchers suspect, they can create an effective AIDS vaccine.

A master of disguise
HIV is a master at replicating quickly — and during that process, it acquires many small mutations that create subtle changes to the contour of its shell. As a result, the immune system must play a constant game of cat-and-mouse: As soon as the body makes a new antibody to attack HIV’s outer coat, the virus has crafted a new one.

“When you’re fighting a war like this, especially with a very clever virus, it’s not going to just roll over and die when the first responder comes in. It will just put on a new mask and go on,” Nabel said.

Because the virus can mutate so easily, people with AIDS have millions of slightly different copies of HIV in their bloodstreams. With 35 million people currently infected with HIV globally, this amounts to a staggering number of viral disguises — and a successful AIDS vaccine would have to train the immune system to recognize all of them.

Nonetheless, there are vulnerable regions in HIV’s shape-shifting armor that persist across all strains, scientists say. The one garnering most interest is called “Env,” short for “envelope glycoprotein.” Resembling spikes on the virus’s surface, each Env can bind to a white blood cell called the CD4 T cell and then pull the whole virus inside. There, HIV begins its cycle of invasion, replication and escape to other white blood cells, which ravages the immune system and leads to AIDS.

HISTORY OF HIV/AIDS IN RAKAI



By NBS TELEVISION · July 19, 2012


HIV/AIDS is generally believed to have entered Uganda through Rakai district from parts of Northern Tanzania in the early 1980s.

Various interventions have been instituted to fight the disease in the district, including using the population in scientific research by NGOs and Uganda’s development partners. A new research by Rakai Health Services Program, an NGO funded by the Johns Hopkins University in America has showed that the prevalence has increased to 13%, almost double the national average at 7.3%.

According to Dr. Robert Mayanja the district Health Officer, the sudden increase in the HIV/AIDS prevalence rates have been brought about by complacence within the population and fewer deaths due to the disease.

Rakai district is home to Kasensero Landing site where the first HIV patient was diagnosed in 1982. The same area still has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Uganda at 40%.

Authorities and Non Governmental Organizations have now embarked on a Safe Male Circumcision campaign, after it was reported to reduce infections by 60%. The ground breaking research was carried out in Kenya, South Africa and by Rakai Health Services Program in Rakai, Uganda.

The Alliance of Mayors and Municipal Leaders on HIV/AIDS in Africa (AMICAALL) have partnered with the district authorities to extend Safe Male Circumcision to the population. So far, 20,000 surgeries have been performed in the past one year. The campaign is funded by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and the Uganda Aids Commission.

Rakai Health Services Program, a research leaning NGO has pioneered the introduction of the Shang ring circumcision method, first studied by Chinese researchers. Over 500 volunteer males have registered to take part in the trials.

The main challenge facing the HIV/AIDS fight in the district is the authorities’ failure to harmonize all data from the numerous researches conducted by NGOs and other partners for effective implementation.


Other studies of penis cleaning vs. HIV
            At least four studies of risks for prevalent HIV infection in Africa have reported various data on intact men’s penile hygiene vs. HIV infection. In a 1999 survey in South Africa, intact men who reported washing their penis less than once a day were 2.7 times more likely to be HIV-positive compared to men who washed at least once a day.[9] Another study in South Africa among intact men attending a sexually transmitted infections clinic reported that men with “subpreputial penile wetness” were 2.3 times more likely to be HIV-positive compared to men without wetness; wetness was in turn less common among men who reported washing after sex (with no information on time between coitus and washing).[10]

In a case control study among intact men recruited for the 2002-06 trial of circumcision to protect men in Kisumu, Kenya, men who reported “wash[ing] genitals immediately after last sexual intercourse” (without specifying the number of minutes between coitus and washing) were 0.2 times as likely to be HIV-positive as men who reported not doing so.[11] A 1999 survey in Kenya found that intact men without “adequate” genital hygiene were 1.3 times more likely to be HIV-positive compared to intact men with “adequate” hygiene (men reporting fully retracting their foreskins when washing and with no smegma on the glans penis during examination).[12]
None of these studies reported information on the timing of post-coital cleaning or on wiping vs. washing. Furthermore, in studies of risks for HIV prevalence, reverse causation could explain some of the findings; eg, men with HIV and weakened immune symptoms are more likely to get genital infections causing subpreputial wetness.


Did post-coital penile cleaning influence HIV incidence among intact men in the South African and Kenyan studies of male circumcision to protect men?
            Two other trials of circumcision to protect men – in Orange Farm, South Africa, 2002-05, and in Kisumu, Kenya, 2002-06 – reported that HIV incidence in intact men was more than double HIV incidence in circumcised men.[13,14] The study team for the South African trial has not reported post-coital cleaning practices for intact men. In 2010, the study team for the Kisumu trial reported that 21% of men in the control (intact) group “washed” their penis within one hour after coitus; but the study team has not reported if or how penile cleaning was related to HIV incidence.[15] Neither team has said what information they collected about post-coital cleaning (and have not reported). The study teams have also not reported what if any advice they gave to intact men about post-coital cleansing.


Has post-coital cleaning contributed to high HIV incidence among intact men in later and continuing studies?
            Post-trial studies in Orange Farm, South Africa, and in Rakai, Uganda, reported higher rates of HIV incidence in intact men compared to rates observed during the trial. In Orange Farm, a cross-sectional survey in 2007-08 reported a rate of HIV incidence in intact men of 5.6% per year (using the BED assay to identify incident infections).[16] A follow-up study in Rakai among men in the two (NIH- and Gates-funded) circumcision trials found that men who remained intact after the trials acquired HIV over the following two years at the rate of 1.93% per year compared to 1.14% per year during the trial.[17] Neither of these studies reported any information about post-coital cleansing. Similarly, neither has reported what if any advice the study team gave to intact men on when and how to clean their penises after coitus.

Some other recent studies in Africa have reported HIV incidence in intact vs. circumcised men but without any information about post-coital cleaning practices. For example, a study of HIV transmission among discordant couples with or without anti-retroviral therapy[18] asked about circumcision but not post-coital cleaning (in this reference,[19] click on “agree,” then on “individual CRFs: international sites,” then on “partner circumcision assessment” and “partner sexual history assessment”).


Recommendations
Data from Rakai, Uganda, discussed in this note have multiple implications for HIV prevention and research in Africa.
            First, all interested parties should mobilize all available channels (newspapers, NGOs, churches, etc) to get two public messages to intact African men:
(a) Don’t go for circumcision. If a partner is HIV infected, you are safe with condoms. If for some reason you are exposed, according to available evidence you are safer if you are intact and wait at least 10 minutes to clean your penis than if you have been circumcised.
(b) Wait at least 10 minutes after coitus to clean your penis, and then do so by wiping with a cloth, without water or other fluid.
Second, programs to circumcise men and babies in Africa should be suspended pending further evidence on the impact of post-coital penile cleaning on HIV incidence.
Third, researchers should urgently report and/or collect and report information on HIV incidence among intact men according to post-coital cleaning practices. All relevant collected but unreported information should be disclosed (including information on post-coital cleaning, incidence of sexually transmitted disease, and injections and other blood exposures). Questions about post-coital cleaning can be added to ongoing studies of risks


The bible says that Cursed is he who trusts in man. The bible also says the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Therefore do not trust in carnal solutions to HIV. The only solution to avoiding the HIV virus is becoming born again. As a born again Christian, abstain from sex if you are not married and be faithful to your wife if you are married. Getting circumcised or washing your genitals after sex is all bogus advise. Do not, I repeat DO NOT participate in HIV trials because even if the trials are successful, it is the west that will benefit. The African as always are simply being used as guinea pigs  in these trials. The purpose of these trials is to help drug companies to reap profits from HIV medicines. These so called scientists who are behind the circumcision crusade and HIV vaccine trials are working in the interests of the American New world order system and its pharmaceutical companies. They are not interested in you, but only want HIV spread to increase so that American and European Companies can reap profits. HIV is a creation of the USA military and the US is using it as a political weapon to control the poor of the world. They confuse African countries that they are helping out on HIV/AIDS while in reality they robbing African mineral resources.  

Have WHO and UNAIDS gotten the wrong message from studies of circumcision to reduce men’s risk for HIV?

https://sites.google.com/site/davidgisselquist/have-who-and-unaids-gotten-the-wrong-message-from-studies-of-circumcision-to-reduce-mens-risk-for-hiv


16 April 2012

In 2003-06, a study team funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) recruited HIV-negative intact (uncircumcised) men in Rakai, Uganda, circumcised some, and then followed and retested both circumcised and intact men to see who got HIV.[1] The most widely reported data from this study say that men in the intervention (circumcised) group got HIV at the rate of 0.66% per year vs. 1.33% per year for men in the control (intact) group. These data have been used to motivate efforts to circumcise 20 million African adults by 2015 as well as to introduce routine infant circumcision.

Circumcise vs. wait and wipe
However, other data from the same study show a more effective, less dangerous, less culturally intrusive, and less expensive option for intact men to protect themselves from HIV after sexual contact – simply waiting at least 10 minutes after coitus before doing anything to clean one’s penis, and then just wiping it with a dry cloth, without water (Table). (Condom use reliably protects men from acquiring HIV from sexual partners; this note discusses waiting and wiping as an alternative to circumcision, not as an alternative to condom use.)
While all intact men in the NIH-funded Rakai trial got HIV at the rate of 1.33% per year, HIV infections in intact men concentrated in men who cleaned their penises within 3 minutes after coitus (2.32% per year) and men who used water alone to do so at any time after coitus (2.26% per year). On the other hand, intact men who cleaned their penises after coitus but waited at least 10 minutes to do so got HIV at the rate of 0.39% per year. Intact men who cleaned their penises after coitus by wiping with a dry cloth (within 3 minutes or later) got HIV at the rate of 0.55% per year. Notably, intact men who waited at least 10 minutes to clean and/or cleaned with a dry cloth were at less risk for HIV than circumcised men; and intact men who waited at least 10 minutes to clean were even at less risk than men who reported no sex partners (see Table).
According to Ronald Gray, the head of the Rakai study team, one message from the study is “there ought to be a little time left for postcoital cuddling before you go and wash. Don’t just finish and jump out of bed.”[5]

Why did intact men who cleaned later without water have lower risk for HIV?
Frederick Makumbi and other members of the Rakai study team, as well as other AIDS experts, speculated that washing could remove enzymes in vaginal fluid that neutralize HIV, that “the acidity of vaginal secretions may impair the ability of the AIDS virus to survive,” and that water with its neutral pH may facilitate viral survival.[5,6]
The study team did not consider that men’s prepuce and its secretions as well as semen – like women’s sexual organs and secretions – might also have viral defenses that are damaged by washing immediately after coitus. Years before the Rakai circumcision trial, Fleiss and colleagues’ 1998 review of the “hygienic and immunological properties of the prepuce and intact penis” noted commensal bacteria and secretions with anti-bacterial and anti-viral activity associated with the foreskin.[7]
Another possibility is that reported post-coital cleaning had little or no impact on HIV risk but was linked to other behaviors that accounted for a lot of the infections. Sixteen of the 67 incident infections recorded during the NIH-funded Rakai trial occurred in men who reported no sex partners (6 infections) or 100% condom use (10 infections),[1] which suggests that many infections came from blood exposures.[8] If men who were most worried about HIV from sex both washed immediately after sex and went for injections for (suspected) sexual infections, their greater risk for HIV may have been from unsafe injections rather than sex. for HIV incidence to get information within 6-12 months. Considering the urgency of this information, it would be unwise to wait for findings from a new trial, which could take years. Moreover, considering the observed high risk for HIV associated with early cleaning and cleaning with water, it is arguably not ethical to follow men without warning them to avoid such practices.
            Fourth, individuals and groups that have been opposing circumcision in Africa should independently collect information on:
(a) post-coital cleaning practices in Africa and elsewhere;
(b) official advice about post-coital cleaning in Africa; and
(c) scientific evidence about the effect of various post-coital cleaning practices on the microbiological defenses of the foreskin.
            These four recommendations are not intended to be complete or decisive. This is a preliminary note. Hopefully people with relevant information and expertise will help to resolve questions raised by Rakai data on post-coital cleaning and will suggest additional questions and steps.

References
1. Gray RH, Kigozi G, Serwadda D, et al. Male circumcision for HIV prevention in men in Rakai, Uganda: a randomized trial. Lancet 2007; 369: 657-666.
2. Makumbi FE, Gray RH, Wawer, M, et al. Male post-coital penile cleansing and the risk of HIV-acquisition in rural Rakai district, Uganda. Fourth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, abstract WEAC1LB, Sydney, 2007. Available at: http://www.ias2007.org/pag/Abstracts.aspx?SID=55&AID=5536.
3. Collins S. IAS feedback: news drugs and prevention studies. 20 September 2007, i-Base. Available at: http://www.powershow.com/view/82522-ZjE3O/IAS_feedback_news_drugs_and_prevention_studies_African_Treatment_Advocacy_Training_flash_ppt_presentation (accessed 14 April 2012).

4. Tobian AAR, Ssempijja V, Kigozi G, et al. Incidence HIV and herpes simplex virus type 2 infection among men in Rakai, Uganda. AIDS 2009; 23: 1589-1594. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2715553/pdf/nihms121760.pdf (accessed 11 May 2012).
5. Altman LK. Washing after sex may raise HIV risk. New York Times 21 August 2007. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/health/21hiv.html (accessed 10 April 2012).
6. Bainemigisha H. Washing the penis after sex may increase HIV infection. New Vision, 12 August 2007. Available at: http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/9/34/580913 (accessed 10 April 2012).
7. Fleiss PM, Hodges FM, van Howe RS. Immunological functions of the human prepuce. Sex Transm Inf 1998; 74: 364-367.
8. Gisselquist D. Points to Consider: responses to HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. London: Adonis & Abbey, 2008. Available at: http://sites.google.com/site/davidgisselquist/pointstoconsider (accessed 15 April 2012).
9. Auvert B, Ballard R, Campbell C, et al. HIV infection among youth in a South African mining town is associated with herpes simplex virus-2 seropositivity and sexual behavior. AIDS 2001; 15: 885-898.
10. O’Farrell N, Morison L, Moodley P, et al. Association between HIV and subpreputial penile wetness in uncircumcised men in South Africa. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2006; 43: 69-77.
11. Mattson CL, Bailey RC, Agot K, et al. A nested case-control study of sexual practices and risk factors for prevalent HIV-1 infection among young men in Kisumu, Kenya. Sex Transm Dis 2007; 34: 731-736. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2562680/pdf/nihms55078.pdf (accessed 15 April 2012).
12. Agot KE, Ndinya-Achola JO, Kreiss jk, et al. Risk of HIV-1 in rural Kenya. Epidemiology 2004; 15: 157-163.
13. Auvert B, Taljaard D, Lagarde E, et al. Randomized, controlled intervention trial of male circumcision for reduction of HIV infection risk: The ANRS 1265 trial. PLoS Med 2005; 2: e298.
14. Bailey RC, Moses S, Parker CB, et al. Male circumcision for HIV prevention in young men in Kisumu, Kenya: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2007; 369: 643-56.

15. Mehta SD, Krieger JN, Agot K, et al. Circumcision and reduced risk of self-reported penile coital injuries: results from a randomized controlled trial in Kisumu, Kenya. J Urol 2010; 184:203-9. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3090633/pdf/nihms287145.pdf (accessed 15 April 2012).

16. Lissouba P, Taljaard D, Rech D, et al. Adult male circumcision as an intervention against HIV: An operational study of uptake in a South African community (ANRS 12126). BMC Infect Dis 2011; 11: 253. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3192707/pdf/1471-2334-11-253.pdf (accessed 15 April 2012).
17. Gray R, Kigozi G, Kong X, et al. The effectiveness of male circumcision for HIV prevention and effects on risk behaviors in a post-trial follow up study in Rakai, Uganda. AIDS 2012; 26: 609-615.
18. Cohen M, Chen YQ, McCauley M, et al. Prevention of HIV-1 infection with early antiretroviral therapy. N Eng J Med 2011; 365: 493-505.

19. Statistical Center for HIV/AIDS Research & Prevention. HPTN 052 CRFs. Available at: https://atlas.scharp.org/cpas/login/HPTN/052/agreeToTerms.view?returnUrl=%2Fcpas%2Fproject%2FHPTN%2F052%2Fbegin.view%3F (accessed 16 April 2012).


2007 Rakai Trial Found Genital Hygiene More Effective Than Circumcision

Some time ago, I wondered out loud if penile hygiene could be more effective than mass male circumcision when it comes to reducing HIV transmission. It's certainly cheaper, more appropriate and should carry fewer risks. Even men who are circumcised still need to practice genital hygiene and use condoms. A research project to find out if penile hygiene would be acceptable, convenient, practicable and if adherence would be high, received funding a few years ago. As far as I know the findings have not yet been reported.

But it turns out that the Rakai circumcision trial, which made its findings public in 2007, also found that penile hygiene is a lot more effective than mass male circumcision. The findings for the relative effectiveness of penile hygiene were reported. But those who continue to urge for circumcision, many of whom would have been involved in the Rakai study (or one of the other studies), have chosen to ignore the more effective, safer and cheaper option. Yet men who remained uncircumcised and waited at least 10 minutes after coitus faced a far lower risk of being infected with HIV than men who were circumcised.

Men are advised to use a dry cloth rather than water. Coupled with the advice to wait a while this could be seen as complicated. But circumcision doesn't obviate the need to take this advice. Therefore circumcision is not just very expensive and has potential risks in countries where health services can be very unsafe, it also gives less protection than something that could already be second nature to most men. The biggest mystery, though, is why there is so much pressure to spend what would probably amount to several billion dollars to circumcise tens of millions of men when those advocating for the campaigns had access to this information at least five years ago.

Dr David Gisselquist has written extensively on this subject on the Don't Get Stuck With HIV website. He has also created a table showing that, according to the Rakai trial data, the biggest reduction in HIV transmission is among those who remained uncircumcised but waited at least 10 minutes after coitus to clean their penis. Hundreds of thousands of circumcisions, perhaps millions, have already been carried out, ostensibly to reduce HIV transmission; tens of millions are planned in adults, children and infants. It is vital that those being persuaded to have the operation have access to all available information in order for them to give informed consent. So far, they only appear to have been given information calculated to bias their decision towards circumcision.