{"id":381207,"date":"2017-12-08T12:16:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T12:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=381207"},"modified":"2017-12-08T12:16:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-08T12:16:44","slug":"cause-kumaca-deaths-not-yet-confirmed-ghs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/12\/cause-kumaca-deaths-not-yet-confirmed-ghs\/","title":{"rendered":"Cause of KUMACA deaths not yet confirmed – GHS"},"content":{"rendered":"
Despite suggestions from the Health Ministry that the deaths of four students at the Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region were caused by\u00a0acute respiratory infections, the Ghana Health Service has said that it would be too early to comprehensively state that the cause of those deaths had been determined.<\/p>\n
According to the Director of Public Health at GHS, Dr. Badu Sarkodie, despite tests by the Noguchi Memorial Institute indicating that the ailments at the school were caused by Influenza type A, it would be premature to rule out other potential causes as well.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”6ErpjnSj41VCNj4wC0H3JjLW7IKgzIHC”]Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> on Friday, Dr. Badu Sarkodie said that some of the symptoms which had been noticed in the students on admission could indicate the presence of a number of conditions, including Influenza and Meningitis, which had earlier been ruled out.<\/p>\n He added that further tests needed to be carried out on the samples before a definitive cause of death can be determined.<\/p>\n “If somebody should die unfortunately, there are specific changes in the normal anatomy that makes you think that those are the changes that led to the deaths. The bleeding could be Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) which you can also have in the flu and in Meningitis. What are the changes in the body internally which the physical examination may not pick? With the blood samples that were taken to the lab, they should all complement and make the story complete,” he said.<\/p>\n “For now, we have enough information to say that it is the flu that is causing the outbreak. We have one condition in mind but it could be more. As scientists what we say is that let\u2019s study As it happened the other time, we confirmed Meningitis. Now if it happens to be something else or more than one issue, you need to take a detailed assessment.”<\/p>\n