The outbreak is thought to have been sparked through transmission from a patient being assessed for the virus in the emergency department, to another patient being admitted at the same time with a suspected stroke.
That's according to an investigation led by the University of KwaZulu-Natal which found that between March 9 and April 30, there were 119 confirmed cases identified at the hospital.Fifteen of the 39 patients died from contracting the virus.
The investigation was led by UKZN academics Dr Richard Lessells, Prof Yunus Moosa and Prof Tulio de Oliveira, bringing together expertise in infectious diseases, epidemiology and viral genomics. “Through detailed analysis of the timelines – which wards patients were on, when their symptoms started, when they tested positive – we were able to build a hypothesis of the most likely chain of events and understand how the virus spread around the hospital. Our genetic analysis supported this hypothesis and gave us confidence that our explanation was correct.
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