Health experts are investigating an outbreak of a strange disease in northern Uganda which makes children nod their heads, a senior health official said on Tuesday.

Issa Makumbi, the head of disease surveillance in the Health Ministry told Xinhua in an interview that the health teams that were sent to the northern districts of Kitgum and Pader are expected to conclude their investigations this week and release the results next week on the possible cause of the disease.

"We have now tried to do extended investigations where we have called in more experts to go and look at that disease in more detail," he said.

"We know that it affects the brain, the muscles and it affects the whole of the body so that the child does not grow properly," he added.

The disease locally referred to as 'Nodding Disease' attacks children between the ages of 5 to 16.

Makumbi said some parents have started abandoning their children who have fallen victims of the disease.

"We have established a community counseling program there to tell the parents that this disease can be controlled, they should not lose hope," he said.

The disease that was first reported in June this year has so far affected at least 300 children, according to reports.

William Mbabazi, an official in charge of disease surveillance and response at the World Health Organization office here, told the state owned New Vision daily last week that Uganda was the fourth country to be struck by the strange disease after Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2009)