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Article History

Received: 25 February 2025

Accepted: 14 April 2025

First Online: 16 May 2025

Declarations

:

: This outbreak investigation was in response to a public health emergency and was therefore determined to be non-research. The Ministry of Health (MoH) gave permission to investigate this outbreak. In agreement with the International Guidelines for Ethical Review of Epidemiological Studies by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (1991) and the Office of the Associate Director for Science, US CDC/Uganda, it was determined that this activity was not human subject research and that its primary intent was public health practice or disease control activity (specifically, epidemic or endemic disease control activity). This activity was reviewed by the US CDC and was conducted consistent with applicable federal law and CDC policy. §§See, e.g., 45 C.F.R. part 46, 21 C.F.R. part 56; 42 U.S.C. §241(d); 5 U.S.C. §552a; 44 U.S.C. §3501 et seq. All experimental protocols were approved by the US CDC human subjects review board (The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Institutional Review Board) and the Uganda Ministry of Health and were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. We sought permission to conduct the investigation from the District health authorities of Moroto District. We obtained verbal informed consent from the respondents’ parents/caretakers on behalf of their children. We informed the participants that their participation was voluntary and their refusal to participate would not have any negative consequences to them. Before sharing and analyzing the data collaboratively among members of the investigation team, we deleted all identifiable information (i.e., name, address, phone number, etc.).

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.