There is a sigh of relief in Kisoro after a five-year-old girl who was confined at the Bunagana border in Kisoro district tested negative to Ebola.
The little girl was among a group of 51 refugees who arrived at Bunagana border on Tuesday night from Itungo village, North Kivu province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and were crossing to Nyakabande Transit Centre in Kisoro district when they were intercepted.
It is however said that while at Bunagana police station, the girl started spewing blood and complained of a stomachache. She was immediately confined at an isolation unit at Bunagana, together with her mother and her sister, while the rest of the refugees were isolated at Nyakabande Transit Centre in Nyakabande Sub-County, Kisoro district.
Now, Kisoro District Health Officer Dr Stephen Nsabiyunva said this morning that the victim’s blood samples which were rushed to Uganda Virus Research Institute-UVRI Entebbe for the examination have tested negative to Ebola, Marburg and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. Nsabiyunva says that the trio have now been cleared to proceed to Nyakabande Transit Centre
He adds that the authorities have intensified surveillance at all entry points and sensitization about Ebola following confirmation of three cases in Kasese district.
On Thursday, Uganda repatriated five suspected Ebola victims back to Congo after a five-year-old boy and his grandmother succumbed to the virus this week.
An outbreak was confirmed in Kasese by the minister of health after the child and his family crossed from DRC before passing on.
