The first suspected Ebola death outside Kampala City and the Rwenzori Mountains region has been recorded at Mbale Hospital. Olive Esther Mukite, the Sironko District Information Officer, died this evening at about 5 p.m.
Olive Mukite was admitted at Mbale Hospital this morning after displaying symptoms of Ebola and was quickly placed in an isolation ward. Henry Luigale, the Mbale Hospital Medical Superintendent, says Mukite and 65 councilors from Sironko returned from a study tour of Kisoro district on Friday last week. He cannot say for sure that Mukite died of the disease and is awaiting a post mortem report from a team of medical experts from Kampala who will travel to Mbale tomorrow. No case of the hemorrhagic fever has been reported in either Kisoro districts.
The staff at Mbale Hospital were completely unprepared for Ebola in their neck of the woods and several medical officers, including a nurse who was by Mukite’s side throughout her ordeal, have been put in isolation for observation.
