EBOLA: Patient Who Escaped from Mubende Hospital Collapses, Another Reportedly Crosses to Tanzania

A patient who escaped from the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) isolation unit at the Mubende Regional Referral Hospital a few days ago has collapsed at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital with signs of the viral hemorrhagic disease.

There had been reports that some patients had escaped from the Mubende isolation unit, causing worry that they would help spread Ebola to other districts of Uganda.

Last week, the country’s Ministry of Health confirmed the outbreak of Ebola in Mubende District.

As of September 25, cumulative deaths stood at 23, with five confirmed deaths and 18 probable deaths. The number of active cases on admission stood at 35.

But some people are said to have escaped from Mubende’s isolation unit.

One of those who run away was a man aged 28 whose escape was confirmed last week.

The man in question would escape to Masaka. But he suffered bleeding from the nose and vomited so much that he took himself to Masake Regional Referral Hospital.

On arrival, this man, suspected to be suffering from Ebola collapsed.

Although there was a mood of fear and panic at the hospital, health workers rushed the man to the intensive care unit to save his life.

He became the fifth suspected Ebola patient the regional referral hospital has received since the start of this week, according to officials at the health facility.

Samples from these five suspected patients have been taken to the Entebbe-based Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) Entebbe.