A man suspected to have the Ebola virus has died at Kagadi hospital, shortly after admission. If samples of tests conducted on the deceased test positive, the Ebola death toll in Kibaale district will have clocked 19.
Doctor Dan Kyamanywa, the Kibaale district Health officer, says the man whose identity he did not reveal, died on arrival at the hospital on Thursday night. He was the 33rd patient to be admitted at the hospital’s Ebola isolation ward.
Meanwhile, of the 32 patients admitted, only two have tested positive for the disease while nine have tested negative. The nine have now been transferred to the convalescence ward which separates them with the rest of other suspected Ebola victims.
Kyamanywa says they will stay in the ward for two to three days to improve before they are discharged. Samples of the remaining 21 patients have been taken to the Uganda Virus Research Institute for confirmation.
In the neighboring Hoima district, an Ebola isolation center has been set up although the outbreak has not penetrated the district yet. Doctor Joseph Ruyonga, the Hoima district Health officer and publicity secretary Hoima Ebola taskforce, says the isolation ward has been set up at Kihukya health center II, about three kilometers away from Hoima town.
Dr. Ruyonga explains that the isolation ward is among the measures the district is taking in light of the Ebola outbreak which has affected the neighboring Kibaale district.
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Hoima district currently has four suspected Ebola patients that are currently under monitoring. Doctor Ruyonga reveals that three of the suspects are health workers who went for the burial of their deceased colleague, Claire Muhumuza in Kibaale.
He explains that the four have been placed under home confinement for monitoring for 21 days.
