Kakamega Public Health Officer Charles Namasake has said the man who travelled to the neighbouring country of Uganda and exhibited symptoms similar to those of the Ebola virus may not have the disease.

According to Namasake, preliminary conducted on the patient showed he was free from Ebola.

Namasake said the only symptom the patient exhibited similar to someone suffering from Ebola was haemorrhaging, which could result from other causes.

“Preliminary examination shows that he could be Ebola-free. He had blood traces in his urine. We’ve forwarded the urine sample to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Kisumu for further analysis,” Namasake said.

“There’s a high likelihood that the patient is not suffering from Ebola”

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This comes after Mumias West Sub-county Disease Surveillance Coordinator Boaz Gichana in a letter to Namasake noted that the patient who is currently admitted at St Mary's Hospital, Mumias in isolation had travelled to the neighbouring country of Uganda about a fortnight ago where he sustained an injury that was attended to at a health facility.

“The patient had travelled to eastern parts of Uganda to visit a relative on 15 September 2022 While in Uganda he got a trauma and was cut at the right upper limb, he sort medical attention at a health facility in Uganda-the cut was sutured,” the letter read.

However, the patient on Wednesday started experiencing blood in his urine, which prompted him to seek immediate and more specialised medical attention at St Mary’s Hospital Mumias.

“He moved to Kenya for FURTHER Medical attention On 28 September 2022, he started experiencing blood in urine and proceeded to St Mary's hospital Mumias for further management,” Gichana said.

According to Gichana, the 32-year-old patient’s clinical presentation manifested general body weakness, actively bleeding stitched wound at the right upper limb, blood in urine and normal vitals.

The patient remains at St Mary’s Hospital Mumias awaiting further laboratory tests, which included a clinical hematuria investigation.

The Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Health recently issued a health advisory following the outbreak of Ebola in Uganda.