Acting Director General for Health Patrick Amoth made the revelation in In a statement on Friday.
“The Ministry wishes to inform the general public that this disease is likely to be a mixture of E. coli and Salmonella typhi which usually occurs if water sources are contaminated with these micro-organisms,” he said.
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacteria commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms that can cause food poisoning.
Salmonella enterica typhi is a gram-negative bacterium that is responsible for typhoid fever.
Amoth said investigations into the mysterious illness which has so far hospitalized 627 people revealed that it might have been caused by water contamination.
Dr. Amoth said that samples collected in the two institutions led to the discovery of the unknown illness said to cause diarrhea and typhoid fever-related signs.
“The Ministry of Health has taken several water, food, and human tissue samples, from which preliminary laboratory investigations undertaken have revealed Enterotoxigenic E. coli and Salmonella typhi as the causes of the illness,” he said.
Dr. Amoth said the infection has symptoms such as fever, abdominal pain or cramps, vomiting and diarrhea.
He noted that health officials have already ruled out earlier claims of Ebola and Marburg viruses that are said to display similar signs after lab tests turned out negative.
“Further laboratory investigations carried out on the grains and pulses for aflatoxin have turned negative for aflatoxicosis- a dangerous fungal infection from poorly stored cereal grains,” he stated.
“In addition, laboratory tests for Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHFs) including Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Marburg Virus Disease (MVD), Leptospirosis and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), Dengue Fever, Rift Valley Fever (RVF) and West Nile Virus have all turned negative.”
Likewise, fears of aflatoxins in the grains were also allayed as the ministry continues to conduct more tests to establish the cause of the disease.
While calling upon the public to be vigilant and report any case of related illnesses, the ministry also advised citizens to avoid crowded places since “the diseases have a high potential of person to person spread especially in congregation settings where people live and eat in close proximity.”
Other cautionary measures to curb the spread, according to Dr. Amoth, include maintaining high standards of personal hygiene by washing hands with soap and running water, treating or boiling all water for drinking and cooking, proper use of toilets to dispose of feces, and proper cooking of all food and eating it while still hot.
Mukumu Girls and Butere Boys High Schools have both already been closed indefinitely following the incidents.
