Murang’a on high alert after man dies from Ebola-like disease

Murang’a District Hospital has been put on high alert after a man with symptoms similar to those Ebola died on Friday. The man was bleeding from the mouth and nostrils. An isolation ward has been set and staff members who were on leave recalled. Murang’a North medical officer of health Ephantus Maree has called for calm.

The death of the man caused panic in Murang’a town. The residents did not want to go near where the body of the 31-year-old man was suspecting he died from the deadly viral disease which has erupted in Uganda. Witnesses said the man vomited blood and villagers from Mjini slums immediately called the police who later came accompanied by health officers in protective gear.

The team immediately kept people at bay as they fumigated the corpse and the entire area. They took the body to Murang’a District hospital mortuary. But Maree allayed fears of an Ebola attack saying the man from Kitui could have died of a Tuberculosis attack after a medical note was recovered from him indicated he was under treatment for the disease.

He said preliminary investigations had indicated he was suffering from TB and the note shoed that he was last treated at Port Reitz hospital in Mombasa on July 18. “We highly suspect he died from a TB attack as he had a medical card in his pocket indicating that he was under treatment for the disease, but we cannot be 100mpercent sure,” he said.

“We have taken samples and sent them to Nairobi for analysis after preserving the body at a secluded place in the morgue, we are not taking any chances but we ask for calm as we deal with the case,” added Maree. The MOH said the isolation ward was ready and that enough medical personnel were in place to cater for any emergency. He asked residents to be on the lookout for any one with symptoms exhibited by the man adding that they should immediately rush such people to hospital.