Panic gripped Yambio town in Gbudue State on Tuesday morning after a woman died of bleeding through her mouth.
Rosemary Samuel Abu John, the State Minister of Health, told Radio Tamazuj this evening that the woman was passing blood through the mouth before she died one day later.
She further said doctors in Juba ruled out chances that the woman could have been suffering from Ebola, which has killed more than 1,800 people in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“The woman called Rose died on Tuesday morning at UNMISS's hospital in Yambo. She was a humanitarian worker in Yambio,” she said.
The state minister pointed out that the results from laboratory tests in Juba on Monday confirmed that the symptoms are not consistent with Ebola.
However, she said samples were also taken and sent to Uganda for testing. “Samples were also taken to Kampala for testing. We are now waiting for the results from Uganda,” she said.
Rosemary pointed out that the body is being kept separately at the hospital mortuary. “The body has not been buried because we want to know first the disease that caused bleeding,” she said.
South Sudan has a porous border with the Democratic Republic of Congo where many people move across the two countries for business and other activities.