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Published Date: 2012-08-02 14:17:44
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Ebola hemorrhagic fever - Kenya: (SI) susp.
Archive Number: 20120802.1226038

EBOLA HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - KENYA: (SIAYA), SUSPECTED CASE
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Date: Wed 1 Aug 2012
Source: Capitalfm News [abbreviated & edited]
http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2012/08/panic-as-siaya-man-exhibits-ebola-symptoms/

Anxiety has gripped Siaya residents after a 27-year-old man was admitted to hospital with symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus. The man, who was immediately put in a solitary ward in Siaya District Hospital, was admitted Wednesday [1 Aug 2012] morning with excessive blood oozing from his gums. "He is also passing bloody urine," said Siaya Medical Superintendent Jacktone Omoto, who said that was a symptom associated with the haemorrhagic fever. Omoto said the patient's blood sample was sent to the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Siaya for testing, and the results are expected on Friday [3 Aug 2012] at the earliest. Director of Public Health Shahnaaz Sharif has, in the meantime, called for calm as the country awaits the results of the tests.

On Monday [30 Jul 2012], the government put on high alert Provincial Directors of Health and District Medical Officers in Western, Nyanza and the Rift valley, which border Uganda, over the outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease. Public Health Minister Beth Mugo is expected to give a ministerial statement on the specific measures the government has taken since the outbreak was reported in neighbouring Uganda about 3 weeks ago.

In May last year [2011], the Ebola virus killed a 12-year-old girl in Uganda, prompting the Health Ministry in Kenya to issue an alert to people living on the border.

Ebola is a viral haemorrhagic fever and one of the most dangerous viral diseases known to humankind. There is no known treatment or vaccine for Ebola, which is transmitted through close personal contact. It kills up to 90 percent of victims. Its initial symptoms include persistent fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, which are usually followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes on the body as well as external bleeding.

[Byline: Catherine Karongo]

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[Further information and confirmation are awaited. Other than the proximity of the Ugandan border, there is little to substantiate the diagnosis of suspected haemorrhagic fever.

Siaya District is one of the 12 districts that make up Nyanza Province in the southwest part of Kenya. A map of Siaya District can be accessed at: http://siaya.bondo-itc.org/siaya_map.htm. - Mod.CP

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/r/1zkN.]

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