By Tolit Ivan
Samples taken from a patient who died at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital under suspected Ebola-like symptoms has tested negative, health officials have said.
On Wednesday, residents of Gulu City were thrown into panic after a 40-year-old boda boda rider, who had been admitted to the hospital’s medical ward with signs and symptoms associated with the deadly Ebola virus, died at around 6pm.
The deceased, a boda boda rider operating at the junction of Alur road along Kitgum Road, reportedly presented with sudden epigastric pain, posterior chest pain, fever and later developed respiratory distress and began vomiting blood before he passed away.
Following his death, hospital management collected blood samples and submitted to Arua Regional Referral Hospital for testing. Fortunately, the results later returned negative for Ebola.
Walter Uryek Wun, the Principal Hospital Administrator, confirmed that the test results had returned negative adding that the deceased didn’t die of Ebola disease.
He reassured the public and hospital staff that there was currently no Ebola case registered at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital but urged the public to continue observing standard operating procedures and the Ministry of Health’s guidelines to prevent Ebola infections.
Uganda has registered a total of seven confirmed Ebola cases, including one death as of now. Three of the cases are linked to travel from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where a larger outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain has been confirmed.
