By BONIFACE GIKANDI
Panic gripped Murang’a on Friday after a man died of a mysterious disease that locals suspected could be caused by the deadly Ebola virus.
Villagers of Mjini slum reportedly found the 30-year-old man who was said to be from Kitui district.
Witnesses said he was passing blood through the mouth and nostrils before he died moments later.
At the same time, medical officers were put on high alert, although they ruled out chances that the man could have been suffering from ebola, which has claimed scores of lives in the neighbouring Uganda.
Local Medical Officer of Health (MOH) Dr Ephantus Maree led a medical team to the scene and ruled out that the deadly Ebola virus could have been caused the death.
He asked members of the public to stop panicking, saying the issue was under control.
He said examinations on the body showed there were no openings in the body that were oozing blood, adding that preliminary investigations pointed at a TB case that had gone out of control.
In a press conference, the MOH said a treatment note found on the deceased’s clothings indicated that he had sought treatment for TB at the Port Lietz Hospital in Mombasa on July 23, this year but it is not known how he landed in Murang’a town.
“Treat strangers with caution and avoid getting in to contact with their body fluids at all cost,” the MOH advised.
Medical documents indicated that the deceased had been advised to go for a chest x-ray and spam test but he did not.
The body was precautionary wrapped in a polythene paper and kept separately at the hospital mortuary.
