Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.newera.com.na/article.php?articleid=40894&title=Mysterious disease kills 4
Mysterious disease kills 4 - by Loide Jason and Fifi Rhodes
29 September 2011
WINDHOEK- Four Hakahana residents died from a mysterious illness that caused a strange rash and caused hemorrhaging through the nose, eyes and other body openings.
Three died over the past three days while two shack dwellers are fighting for their lives in a city hospital and several others have been discharged from hospital.
One died last week.
The strange disease that causes its victims to bleed and pass excessive blood in their urine and fecal matter has left doctors at Katutura State Hospital baffled.
Medical authorities are also trying to find the source of the swiftly-killing disease that has struck terror at Hakahana.
Among those who died in the last three days are one man, one woman and a child.
When New Era visited the bereaved families yesterday together with the Moses Garo?b Constituency Councillor, Martin David, the families of the deceased were still in shock at the sudden death of their beloved ones.
Petrus Kakondo said his shebeen attendant, Aili Shakungu, went to see him before her demise complaining of a splitting headache and he told her to go to hospital.
?After she went to the hospital she started to develop red pimples on the whole body, the same day afternoon she started vomiting blood, bleeding through the anus,? he said.
Shakungu started complaining last Thursday evening and went to Katutura hospital on Friday but was sent back home as nurses said she was in a stable condition.
But on Sunday at around 11 pm her relatives called him saying she was critical and she died upon arrival at Katutura State Hospital where she was again rushed.
According to Ndateelela Gideon, the family member of the deceased, Shakungu died on Monday, and they are still shocked by the death because they had not experienced a disease with such symptoms before.
New Era has learnt that Frans Shekutamba, another of the victims, also died yesterday after displaying similar symptoms.
Shekutamba was also a resident of Hakahana.
The residents said they now live in fear because they do not know what exactly is causing the sudden deaths.
Councillor David has his own theories about the deaths saying it could be that the victims ate poisoned food scavenged from one of the dumpsites.
A mourner at one of the funerals said: ?We are still waiting from the doctors to identify the cause of the deaths but for now we are very scared.?
Residents appealed to the Ministry of Health and Social Services to urgently investigate the disease and inform the public on how to prevent it so that they could take precautionary measures.
?The ministry must investigate so that they can introduce campaigns of injecting or whatever they can do for us to prevent this serious outbreak. People are dying in a short period,? said one resident.
Another child died last week in the same neighbourhood when he started passing blood-tainted urine and his mother took him to hospital, bringing to four the number of victims.
Two people who are hospitalised are also bleeding from the eyes and urinating blood and have symptoms similar to those who died.
Approached for comment, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Kahijoro Kahuure, said he was not informed about the illness.
Mysterious disease kills 4 - by Loide Jason and Fifi Rhodes
29 September 2011
WINDHOEK- Four Hakahana residents died from a mysterious illness that caused a strange rash and caused hemorrhaging through the nose, eyes and other body openings.
Three died over the past three days while two shack dwellers are fighting for their lives in a city hospital and several others have been discharged from hospital.
One died last week.
The strange disease that causes its victims to bleed and pass excessive blood in their urine and fecal matter has left doctors at Katutura State Hospital baffled.
Medical authorities are also trying to find the source of the swiftly-killing disease that has struck terror at Hakahana.
Among those who died in the last three days are one man, one woman and a child.
When New Era visited the bereaved families yesterday together with the Moses Garo?b Constituency Councillor, Martin David, the families of the deceased were still in shock at the sudden death of their beloved ones.
Petrus Kakondo said his shebeen attendant, Aili Shakungu, went to see him before her demise complaining of a splitting headache and he told her to go to hospital.
?After she went to the hospital she started to develop red pimples on the whole body, the same day afternoon she started vomiting blood, bleeding through the anus,? he said.
Shakungu started complaining last Thursday evening and went to Katutura hospital on Friday but was sent back home as nurses said she was in a stable condition.
But on Sunday at around 11 pm her relatives called him saying she was critical and she died upon arrival at Katutura State Hospital where she was again rushed.
According to Ndateelela Gideon, the family member of the deceased, Shakungu died on Monday, and they are still shocked by the death because they had not experienced a disease with such symptoms before.
New Era has learnt that Frans Shekutamba, another of the victims, also died yesterday after displaying similar symptoms.
Shekutamba was also a resident of Hakahana.
The residents said they now live in fear because they do not know what exactly is causing the sudden deaths.
Councillor David has his own theories about the deaths saying it could be that the victims ate poisoned food scavenged from one of the dumpsites.
A mourner at one of the funerals said: ?We are still waiting from the doctors to identify the cause of the deaths but for now we are very scared.?
Residents appealed to the Ministry of Health and Social Services to urgently investigate the disease and inform the public on how to prevent it so that they could take precautionary measures.
?The ministry must investigate so that they can introduce campaigns of injecting or whatever they can do for us to prevent this serious outbreak. People are dying in a short period,? said one resident.
Another child died last week in the same neighbourhood when he started passing blood-tainted urine and his mother took him to hospital, bringing to four the number of victims.
Two people who are hospitalised are also bleeding from the eyes and urinating blood and have symptoms similar to those who died.
Approached for comment, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Kahijoro Kahuure, said he was not informed about the illness.