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Thief infected with Ebola from stolen phone

David Pescovitz at 9:52 am Tue, Aug 28, 2012

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A thief nicked a cell phone from a patient at Kagadi Hospital in Kibaale District, Uganda. Turns out, the owner had Ebola and the thief became infected. From The Monitor:
Police detectives began tracking him after he apparently began communicating to his friends using the phone. But as police zeroed in on him, he developed symptoms similar to those of Ebola and sought medication at the hospital.

While at hospital he reportedly confessed stealing the phone and has handed it to Kagadi police.

“Kagadi Police Station received that complaint and investigations are underway,” Mr John Ojokuna Elatu, the district police commander confirmed to Sunday Monitor.

"Man steals phone from Ebola patient, gets infected" (via Fortean Times)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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  • Petzl

    If this was posted on Yahoo or Facebook, there’d be 10,000 inane, schadenfreudic “karma” comments.

    • http://twitter.com/rvitelli Romeo Vitelli

      Give it time…

    • Mitchell Glaser

      It’s not karma, it’s utter stupidity. Even the ancients knew not to steal the clothes of plague victims.

    • TheMudshark

       If this is karma, she´s a much harsher mistress than I thought.

  • http://benjscott.com thunderhammer

    “While at hospital he reportedly confessed stealing the phone and has handed it to Kagadi police.”
    …who now also have ebola?

    • BombBlastLightingWaltz

      Yes. Brilliant work there.

  • http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan

    We really do need the telephone sanitizers off that B Ark.

    • Felton / Moderator

      Win!

    • jerwin

      Aren’t we humans descended from B-grade Golgafrinchans?

    • Brainspore

      Said like a frood who really knows where his towel is.

  • signsofrain

    A candidate for a Darwin award if I ever saw one.

  • Mitch_M

    That is why I hate lending out my phone and getting it back covered with a stranger’s saliva spray and skin oil.

  • BlackPanda

    Darwin Award for the gutless invidual who robs people on quarantine wards.

    • awjt

      Gutless?  If he wasn’t already, he will be soon.

  • Mahmud Ramdhani

    Likely this is funny, but we can take any experience about these story. 

    • Cory Trevor

      Yes, but has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

      • awjt

        I am thought since we took it as funny, anything anyone really has for experience was seriously already even doing more with these.

        • http://www.facebook.com/khal.shariff Khal Shariff

          as auto-tranlate I, very serious anyway for victims of whom have Ebola now. Best way is to forgive and not laugh how see news from glass houses and sardonic witless town of ebola coughers who ask for help us.