By Health authorities in Jinja District have traced 40 contacts, with four of them showing symptoms of Ebola.
The development comes after Dr Ruth Aceng, the minister of Health, confirmed one case of Ebola virus in the district.
“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.
“A sample was obtained on November 10 from the dead body by health workers from St Catherine Medical Centre, Luzinya-Buwenge, a private clinic where he had sought treatment before passing on. Contact tracing and epidemiological investigations have been activated,” read Dr Aceng’s tweet on Sunday.
The deceased has since been identified as Dan Waiswa, a farmer and resident of Kayalwe ‘B’ Village, Bulugo Parish, Buyengo Town Council, Jinja District. He was admitted to Buwenge Health Centre IV following his referral from the aforementioned private clinic last week.
Mr Yenus Mbwire, the Jinja District surveillance focal person, said prior to his death that the deceased was bleeding from the mouth and nose.
“The medical team rushed to the site (village), took his samples and sent them to Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) in Entebbe for testing and on Saturday night at around 11:30pm, we received information that the samples tested positive for Ebola.
“The team is already doing contact tracing from the home and facilities where the deceased was first admitted. So far, 40 contacts have been reached, out of which four are presenting signs and symptoms of Ebola,” Mr Mbwire said.
The surveillance team was yesterday expected to collect the samples of the 40 contacts and have them taken to UVRI for testing.
“These traced contact persons are still in their homes, but plans are underway to evacuate them. We are arranging for an isolation centre,’’ he added.
By the time of filing this story, this publication learnt that the district had not yet established an isolation centre to cater for the traced cases.
Uganda recorded its first case of Ebola on September 20 and by Sunday, the country had recorded 138 confirmed cases, 69 recoveries and 54 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.
