Mysterious ‘zombie’ disease afflicts thousands of Ugandan childrenhttp://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/21/mysterious-zombie-disease-afflicts-thousands-of-ugandan-children/3/21/12
Agnes Apio has to tie up her son Francis before she can leave the house. In his state, he is a danger to himself. Where once he walked and talked like a normal child, now he is only able to drag himself along in the dirt. Francis is suffering from “Nodding Disease,” a brain disorder that, according to CNN, afflicts at least 3,000 children in northern Uganda, leaving them physically stunted and severely mentally disabled.
“I feel dark in my heart,” Apio says as waves flies away from her son’s face and mops up his urine after a seizure, “This boy has become nothing.”
“Reportedly the children gnaw at their fabric restraints, like a rabid animals,” says The Daily Tech. The article calls them “zombie children,” having “no cure” and “no future.”
First the victims become restless, can’t concentrate. They say they have trouble thinking. Then comes the nodding, an uncontrollable dipping of the head that presages the disease’s debilitating epilepsy-like seizures. It is this nodding motion that gives the illness its name.
more
This is being intentionally brought up as a talking point for some reason. The media is also giving us several false impressions. Impression 1 – “this is a new thing.”
Prevalence and epidemiology
While occurrences of the disease known as "nodding syndrome" have been relatively recent, it appears that the condition was first documented in 1962 in southern Tanzania.[5] More recently, nodding syndrome was previously most prevalent in South Sudan, where in 2003 approximately 300 cases were found in Mundri alone. By 2009, it had spread across the border to Uganda's Kitgum district,[3] and the Ugandan ministry of health declared that more than 2000 children had the disease.[5] As of the end of 2011, outbreaks were concentrated in Kitgum, Pader and Gulu. More than 1000 cases were diagnosed in the last half of that year.[10]
There were further outbreaks in early 2012, in South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania.[16] - Wiki
Impression 2 – “The local government doesn’t care” The raw story article says:
Physicians and workers with the Ugandan Red Cross are frustrated by what they see as a lack of urgency in the government’s handling of the disease. After months of lagging, officials have only begun an official tally of cases within the last two weeks.
Then I find this article. Note the date.
Last group of nodding disease children discharged
Publish Date:
Mar 29, 2012The last group of children suffering from nodding disease has been discharged from Mulago national referral hospital.
"They are expected to report to the treatment centres for follow up documents before returning to their homes," the hospital's spokesperson Dan Kimosho said.
The hospital will continue to work closely with the ministry of health to monitor the affected children but from the established centres.
One of the children who had a problem of brain trauma underwent a successful operation, Kimosho confirmed.
Before this last group, Mulago had discharged about 20 children who were suffering from the same disease.
The screening and treatment centres are in Kitgum, Pader and the other affected districts."
More here:
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/629956-last-group-of-nodding-disease-children-discharged.htmlSo, why is this suddenly being widely reported? I’m seeing a pattern in the spin.
Here’s some headlines.
Mystery of nodding disease turning children into
'zombies' in Uganda
Forget Joseph Kony. What Ugandan children
fear is the ‘nodding disease’
Nodding Disease: Uganda battles
new mystery illness | GlobalPost
Neglected Diseases - Nodding disease – YouTube