A 37-year-old man Karonga who was suspected of having Ebola has died of bacterial infection and will be buried in a normal way.
According to Principal Secretary in Ministry of Health Dan Namarika, the patient who was admitted at Karonga Treatment Centre died on Sunday afternoon.
Namarika said in a statement today that the patient had fever, facial swelling and some bleeding in the eyes, nose and mouth.
“Epidemiologically, there was no risk of Ebola since here was no recent travel or risk of contact with a case of Ebola,” said Namarika.
He added that the patient was treated as a case of generalised bacterial infection and doctors were guided by preliminary lab results.
Namarika further said that other lab results are pending but did not mention the specific tests that were conducted.
He however assured the general public that Malawi still has no case of Ebola.
Ebola is a virus that is spread through direct contact with vomit blood, faeces or bodily fluids of an Ebola patient.
It can take days before its symptoms are noted on human beings which include extreme fever, vomiting blood and diarrhoea.
An ongoing Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – which shares a border with Malawi’s neighbour Tanzania – has killed more than 2,000 people to date.
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