First Ebola death confirmed in Jinja
Ministry of Health Ebola response team during the burial of one of the virus victims recently. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- The 45-year-old, Dan Waiswa, a farmer and resident of Kayalwe B village, in the Buyengo Town Council, Jinja District was admitted at Buwenge Health Center IV following his referral from a private clinic in Buwenge town council early this week
Samples from a patient who died on Friday at Buwenge Health Center IV in Jinja District have tested positive for Ebola.
The 45-year-old, Dan Waiswa, a farmer and resident of Kayalwe B village, in the Buyengo Town Council, Jinja District was admitted at Buwenge Health Center IV following his referral from a private clinic in Buwenge town council early this week.
He had earlier on been admitted to the clinic on suspicion that he had typhoid. He presented with fever, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, muscle pain, cough, difficulty in breathing and swallowing, and sore throat.
A medical worker at Buwenge Health Center IV, says that when the patient failed to improve, they decided to pick his samples to test for Ebola since he had informed them that he was in close contact with another case with similar signs in Kampala City.
The samples were extracted from the patient on November 11, 2022, a few hours before he passed on. His body was handed over to his relatives for burial. However, a report issued by the Uganda Virus Research Institute-UVRI on Saturday night shows that Waiswa succumbed to Ebola.
“A confirmed fatal Ebola case has been reported in Kayalwe B village, Buyengo sub-county, Jinja district. This was a 45-year-old male who is linked to a probable case, his brother. Contact tracing and epidemiological investigations have been activated,” the Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, tweeted on Sunday, urging Ugandans to be more vigilant.
“Fellow Ugandans, let's remain vigilant! If you have had contact with an Ebola case, do not run away, report to the nearest public health facility,” she said.
Jinja Deputy Resident City Commissioner, Mr Mohammed Kigongo, said that Waiswa's brother, who was a resident in an undisclosed area in Kampala succumbed to Ebola on November 03, 2022.
He says that they have dispatched surveillance teams to pick samples from the deceased's family members, health workers, and patients at the St. Catherine clinic and Guardian medical centre in Buwenge sub-county and town council respectively where the patient was first managed for peptic ulcers and typhoid.
Additional reporting by URN
