Health probe as Ebola scare woman dies

Mr Gibson Kagoi (left) at the Kenyatta National Hospital where his daughter bled to death on December 22, 2011. He was put in isolation as doctors investigated the cause of her death. Photo/JENNIFER MUIRURI

Scientists are waiting for results of tests to confirm if a woman who bled to death on Thursday died of Ebola.

Three people who took the woman, Gladys Muthoni, to hospital were also put in an isolation ward at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

They are being checked for the deadly virus that is highly contagious.

Muthoni was said to have been bleeding from all openings and was declared death on arrival.

“She had what looked like suspicious sudden onset of bleeding and as part of our public health concern we have to investigate and find out what caused it,” said Dr Masika Wafula, a consultant at the Infectious Diseases Unit.

Preliminary results from tests by the Kenya Medical Research Institute and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) are expected on Friday afternoon.

Dr Wafula declined to speculate the cause of the death, saying the bleeding could have been as a result of multiple conditions.

The woman’s father, her friend and a taxi driver were first quarantined at the tents usually used for blood donation for several hours.

Their car was also detained. They were later moved to a ward where they will be kept in isolation until doctors determine the cause of Muthoni’s death.

Experts from the Ministry of Public Health, Division of Disease Surveillance and Response are reported to have taken over the investigation.

Muthoni, 29, was said to have been in good health when she reported to work yesterday morning at the Timboroa Hotel in downtown Nairobi.

“She even went to the market and was going about her duties at work when she started bleeding,” said Ms Rachel Wairimu, a sister.

“When it increased, the manager called our father who went to pick her up.”

Dr Ashford Parantai, who was among the experts who received the body at the hospital, said incubation period for haemorrhagic fever is 18-48 hours.

“The disease is spread by coming into contact with an infected person or body secretions,” Dr Parantai said.

He added that the condition is also associated with Ebola and Marburg, which have no known cure.

The CDC describes the viral disease as a life-threatening infection that affects the vascular system.

“While some types of haemorrhagic fever viruses can cause relatively mild illnesses, many of these viruses cause severe, life-threatening disease,” the CDC website says.

The Ebola virus was first isolated in Zaire in 1976 where it claimed 318 lives.