4th Ebola victim dies in Masindi

Nov 14, 2000

ANOTHER person yesterday died of Ebola in Masindi district, raising the death toll there to four, health ministry officials said yesterday.

By Charles Wendo and Kyetume Kasanga ANOTHER person yesterday died of Ebola in Masindi district, raising the death toll there to four, health ministry officials said yesterday. This raises the overall number of people who have died of Ebola since last month to 110. The number of people who have suffered from the disease rose to 329, the highest ever recorded in any Ebola outbreak in the world. State minister for health Max Omeda yesterday afternoon led a medical team to Masindi. They joined a Gulu-based team of experts from the World Health Organisation, the US Centre for Disease Control (COD) and MSF International. Dr. Sam Okware, head of the national Ebola task force, said all the four victims in Masindi came from one family in Kaduku II village, Port sub-county, Kibanda county. Masindi officials said the family belongs to the Maragoli tribe of eastern Kenya. Kaduku is 160km north west of Kampala and 20km south of Kiryandongo where over 10,000 Sudanese refugees are settled. The family lived a kilometre east of the Kampala-Gulu highway and eight kilometres west of Lake Kyoga. The latest victim, Gideon Alwala, yesterday morning died in Kiryandongo Hospital where he had been undergoing treatment under isolation. Experts found traces of the deadly Ebola virus in his blood. He was the husband of Joseline Hellen Okwisa, the first Ebola victim in Masindi, who died at home October 25. Their daughter, Dorcas Tete, and grandson Koroneri, both died at home during the first week of November. Hellen Okwisa, who is believed to have imported the disease from Gulu, reportedly escaped from Lacor Hospital where she had been undergoing treatment for a bulging stomach, which the doctors referred to as ascites. "When she learnt there was Ebola in Lacor Hospital, she ran away from the hospital to her home village," Okware said. Okware said the Kaduku outbreak took long to come to the attention of health officials because the family was secretive. "They were a difficult group of people. They refused to go to hospital and did not allow anybody to go to their homes," he said. He said Ebola investigators would trace and monitor all the people who had contact with the victims. He said all districts north of Kumi had been put on the alert and equipped with guidelines and start-up resources for controlling Ebola. In Mbarara, a week has elapsed without a new case of Ebola. Mbarara town was thrown into panic when the Ebola attack was first reported. Four of the people who contracted the disease had died by last Thursday. One is still undergoing treatment. In Gulu, the death toll has reached 102. A total of 320 people in Gulu have suffered from Ebola, of whom 191 have recovered. No new case was reported yesterday. Meanwhile, the Italian Co-operation yesterday released 15,000 litres of fuel, part of their $40,000 (sh72m) pledge to fight Ebola. Ends.

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