Second Ebola victim dies

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

The deadly Ebola disease has killed two people so far following an outbreak announced last week in Nakisamata village, Zirobwe, in Luwero district. Though official reports from the Ministry of Health indicate two deaths and at least 25 traced cases, unofficial figures put the number of deaths at four so far.

LOSS: The victim’s family reacts to the news of Nakiguli’s death. (PHOTO BY PATRICK JARAMOGI)

The Sudan Ebola that struck the remote village in Luwero, killed 12-year- old Kate Nakiguli. The second victim was the Bombo Military Hospital mortuary attendant who, health experts say, had close contact with the first victim. Ministry of Health officials have however pointed out that he was diagnosed with malaria prior to his death.

Dr Monica Musenero, an epidemiologist attached to the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), pointed out that so far 25 listed contacts had been identified in Luwero district alone. “The new suspected case of an Ebola victim is that of a five-year-old boy from Nakisamata in Zirobwe, Luwero, where the first victim was reported. The suspect is currently under surveillance at the Bombo Military Hospital,” she said yesterday.

Musenero said four suspected cases had been detected in Luwero and Bugiri districts.
“Three contacts in Luwero have already developed symptoms. Two cumulative alert cases have been detected in Luwero and one in Kampala,” she said.
The National Task Force situation report (Sitrep no 4)issued by the Ministry of Health stated that so far six inpatients were being monitored in Luwero, Kampala and Bugiri.

“No new alert cases, deaths or discharges have been reported by yesterday,” stated the report posted on the AFENET website.
The five-year-old Ebola suspect from Ngalonkalu had a two-day history of high grade fever associated with headache, vomiting, general body pains and bloody diarrhoea.

Four suspects
‘The patient has been isolated and a sample retrieved for laboratory investigations. There are four suspected cases admitted at Bombo Military Hospital, and they are responding well to treatment,’ said the report. Luwero District Health Officer Dr Joseph Okware said three of the four cases have tested negative for Ebola by PCR and ELISA antigen testing. He said three of the contacts to the ‘putative index’ patient had developed fever and two of them had been isolated.

Dr Musenero said there was no Ebola in Bugiri. “The Bugiri case was confirmed to be malaria and the young man is recovering,” she said.
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, generalised pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding. The Ministry of Health issued a statement yesterday urging locals to desist from eating game meat, which it described as ‘dangerous’ in this era of Ebola.