KUMACA: Students to be quarantined

The Kumasi Metropolitan Directorate of Health Services has indicated that persons affected by the unidentified disease at Kumasi Academy will be isolated for treatment due to the infectious nature of the disease.

A letter dated December 6 and signed by Dr Alberta Adjebeng Biritwum-Nyarko, Metropolitan Director of Health Services, detailed signs and symptoms of the disease to define suspected cases.

The letter indicated that based on the symptoms reported and signs elicited so far, “we can deduce that the disease has a short incubation period of about 0 -2 days”.

The letter added that the disease has a high fatality rate and transmitted from person to person.

“A suspected case, therefore, has been defined as anyone presenting with fever (temperatures equal to or greater than 38 degree Celsius) headache, muscle pain with or without any of the following: cough, bleeding, diarrhoea, vomiting [and] stiff neck,” the letter pointed out.

It further directed health facilities in the region to “use this case definition to find more cases and do well to separate them from other cases for infection control”.

Meanwhile, Members of Parliament have expressed displeasure over the strange deaths of at least eight students of the school and criticised the Health Minister, Kweku Agyemang-Manu over his failure to effectively handle the outbreak of the unknown disease.

According to the MPs, a lack of reactiveness on the part of health authorities has aggravated the situation.

Meanwhile, students are being administered antibiotics as part of measures to stop the spread of the mysterious bacterial infection.

About 1,500 students have so far been given the medication. The Ministry of Education has, therefore urged parents to return their students to school so they can be administered the medication.