A suspected Ebola case has been reported in Mumias, Kakamega County with health officials from the county kicking off investigations to establish the case.

According to Mumias West Disease Surveillance Co-ordinator Boaz Gichana, a patient who has shown the symptoms of the disease had recently travelled to Eastern Uganda to visit his relatives.

He is currently isolated at St. Mary’s Mission Hospital awaiting laboratory tests before the case is confirmed.

Uganda has recently reported several Ebola cases, with Kenyan government last week issuing an Ebola alert and called for screening of travellers at entry points on the border with Uganda.

The Yoweri Museveni-led country on September 20, 2022, declared an Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) outbreak in Mubende district in the central part of the country, following a confirmed case in Mubende Regional Referral Hospital.

The case was a 24 years old male from Ngabano Village in Madudu Sub-County, who was referred to and admitted and isolated at Mubende Regional Referral Hospital.

He presented with high-grade fever, tonic convulsions, blood-stained vomitus and diarrhoea, loss of appetite and pain while swallowing. The date of onset of symptoms was on 11 September 2022.

Previous Ebola outbreaks and responses have shown that early diagnosis and treatment with optimised supportive care, with fluid and electrolyte repletion and treatment of symptoms, significantly improve survival. 

One gets infected through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals found ill or dead.