Kiboga food poisoning incident: Two confirmed dead

Aug 21, 2013

Two of the six victims of food poisoning from the same family in Kiboga district have died, Kiboga hospital doctors say.

By Nelson Kiva in Kiboga

KIBOGA - Two of the six people from the same family admitted at Kiboga government hospital on Monday after they suffered food poisoning have died, doctors say.

19-year-old Stephen Sserugo and his grandmother were mentioned dead by doctors on Tuesday night.

The other four victims of the food poisoning were transferred to Mulago hospital in Kampala on the night of the two deaths to try and save their lives. Their condition had worsened.

Kiboga hospital officials are yet to give a final report on the exact cause of the sickness.

On the morning when all the six were admitted at the health facility, they had stomachache, headache, diarrhea, vomiting and fever. Initially, the medics had confirmed that is it was food poisoning. But that was not an official confirmation.

One of the nurses on duty had hoped they all would recover.

The hospital’s medical superintendent, Michael Misitwa said a team of medical personnel from the hospital and Kampala are still investigating the exact cause of the sickness.

One of the relatives of the victims said she ate the same food as the others that Sunday night but that she did not get sick.

“We ate the food which was matooke and beans at around 8pm on Sunday night and we went to sleep, but all of a sudden at around midnight, all the other [family] members started complaining of stomachache which developed into vomiting, diahorrhea and fever in the shortest period,” she recalled.

“The same food we had shared it [sic] with neighbors who up to now are not complaining of anything, which makes me think that we have been attacked by a strange disease or witches,” she added.

One of the deceased, Sserugo, was a Senior Four student of Bamusuta Secondary School. Their late grandmother was reported to be in her 70s.

The others, who are still battling for their lives are a Senior Four student of the same school, and three other boys – two of them aged five and the other a four-year-old.

The boys were staying with their grandmother in Kyanga village, Kiboga town council.

Kiboga district Criminal Investigations Officer Stephene Ssemanda confirmed the deaths and called for calm.

He said that police is exploring all avenues to comprehensively investigate the matter.

However the incident has attracted general public condemnation from residents who have called for serious investigations to establish the actual cause of the sickness and deaths.

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