From David McKenzie, CNN
August 3, 2012 -- Updated 1336 GMT (2136 HKT)
Kagadi,
Uganda (CNN)
-- One of five prisoners receiving treatment for a
suspected case of Ebola virus in Uganda escaped overnight Friday from the
hospital at the center of the outbreak, a health official
said.
"Should his results come
back and he is positive, that causes us a lot of worry. So right now, we have
resolved that the remaining prisoners will be cuffed on the beds for fear that
they might also escape," said Dr. Jackson Amune, commissioner at the
Ministry of Health.
The inmates from Kibaale
prison are among 30 people at Kagadi hospital with suspected cases of the virus.
Two additional patients have confirmed cases, according to Doctors Without
Borders.
The prisoners have been
showing Ebola-like symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea and fever, Dr. Dan Kyamanywa
said Thursday.
"We do expect the number of
suspected cases to increase," Kyamanywa said. "It's important to break
transmission and reduce the number of contacts that suspected cases have."
Many patients fled Kagadi
hospital when Ebola was confirmed, he said, and the facility is struggling to
respond to all the call-outs to suspected cases.
The outbreak began in the Kibaale
district in western Uganda with 53 confirmed cases. At
least 16 people have died. An additional 312 people have suspected cases of the
virus and have been isolated, pending further testing.
The deaths have stoked heightened
fear of the virus, a highly infectious, often fatal agent spread through direct
contact with bodily fluids. Symptoms can include fever, vomiting, diarrhea,
abdominal pain, headache, a measles-like rash, red eyes and, at times, bleeding
from body openings.
"I would like to stress that the
disease is under control," said Joaquim Saweka, the World Health
Organization representative to Uganda.
Health officials urged the
public to report any suspected cases, to avoid contact with anyone infected and
to wear gloves and masks while disinfecting bedding and clothing of infected
people. Officials also advised avoiding public gatherings in the affected
district.
...Meanwhile, officials in Kenya
were taking extra precautions after at least two patients showed symptoms of the
virus, according to Jackstone Omoto, a medical official in Siaya, western Kenya.
One man tested negative. A second man and two relatives have been isolated at
the Moi Teaching & Referral Hospital in Eldoret, pending test results. The
man was traveling from South Sudan to Kenya through Uganda.
"We are tracing the bus
that he (traveled on), and we have requested the company to contact the ministry
so we can know who else was in the bus," said Beth Mugo, public health
minister.
