Another Ebola Patient Dies in Kasese

By Kampala Post Reporter

Another Ebola patient has died at Bwera Ebola Treatment Unit in Kasese District, bringing the death toll to two.

The deceased is a grandmother to the five year old boy who died on Tuesday at the same facility. She is a wife to a Congolese man who also died of the same epidemic two weeks ago in Beni, Eastern Democratic of Congo.

She had crossed into Uganda in a company of other five people. The Kasese District Health Officer Dr. Yusuf Baseke has confirmed the incident. Dr. Baseseke says the deceased who died on Wednesday evening will be buried on Thursday at Rusese prisons where her grandson was buried.

On Tuesday evening the ministry of health confirmed the first case of the Ebola outbreak, after the 5 year old, whose family had been in the Ebola-ravaged DR Congo tested positive before he passed on later.

By Wednesday three cases had been confirmed, while seven were suspects under monitoring. Now still hospitalized is a three year old, a younger brother to the first victim.

The Minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng, said on Wednesday that the Ministry and WHO had dispatched a Rapid Response Team to Kasese to identify other people who may be at risk, and ensure they are monitored and provided with care if they also become ill.

Uganda has previous experience managing Ebola outbreaks. In preparation for a possible imported case during the current outbreak in DRC, Uganda has vaccinated nearly 4700 health workers in 165 health facilities (including in the facility where the child is being cared for); disease monitoring has been intensified; and health workers trained on recognizing symptoms of the disease.

Ebola Treatment Units are in place. In response to the outbreak, the Ministry is intensifying community education, psychosocial support and will undertake vaccination for those who have come into contact with the patient and at-risk health workers who were not previously vaccinated.

Ebola virus disease is a severe illness that is spread through contact with the body fluids of a person sick with the disease (fluids such as vomit, feces or blood).