A worrying surge in Blackwater Fever cases has been recorded, with infections rising nearly tenfold, according to doctors. The condition, a severe complication of malaria, occurs when red blood cells rupture in the bloodstream, releasing hemoglobin into circulation and darkening the urine—a dangerous signal of escalating illness.
Speaking at a meeting held Tuesday evening, Dr Ruth Namazzi, a Child Health Expert, urged clinicians to be keen and look out for symptoms of BWF whenever they receive children on the ward, warning that the complication is responsible for the increasing cases of kidney injury among children.
While no countrywide studies have been done to determine the exact extent of the problem, Namazzi said evidence from children’s wards is showing an increase in cases, and yet the complication had reduced when Uganda dropped anti-malarial drug quinine.
Doctors say the rebound is concerning, considering that patients testify to resorting to the use of herbs when they notice dark red or black urine, since there is currently limited awareness that malaria can be associated with such symptoms.
The Eastern region is reported to have the highest number of BWF cases, and an earlier assessment done by epidemiologists at the National Public Health Institute in sixteen regional referral hospitals found that more than half of the 4000 children identified to have suffered from the complication were picked from districts of Eastern Uganda.
Prof Richard Idro, a Pediatrician and Senior Malaria Researcher, says the current high rates of BWF speak to the fact that children who contract malaria are not treated promptly. According to him, when one is infected, they should be treated within twenty-four hours to prevent the risk of parasites multiplying, further damaging cells, and causing death.
By forty-eight hours, children start developing complications.Idro explains that through research, they have established that children who get severe malaria often get re-admitted soon after discharge, and the numbers are higher when it comes to BWF.
To be able to cut down on these numbers, they are now recommending offering such children malaria medication to prevent a new infection, an intervention they technically refer to as post-discharge chemoprevention.
Under this approach, children are enrolled in malaria treatment for three months.Meanwhile, results of a countrywide Malaria Indicator Survey released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics in March revealed an increase in prevalence of malaria from nine percent to thirteen percent currently.
According to Dr Jane Nabakooba, a Pediatrician in the Malaria Control Programme of the Ministry of Health, the entire country, apart from Kampala and Kigezi, is still reporting a high number of severe cases of malaria, and that it’s therefore not surprising that there is a high number of BWF.
She recommends that health facilities set up surveillance boards which are able to capture such cases earlier on order to stop them from developing more adverse complications. URN