Seven Angunakolapelessa Prison inmates who had been suspected of contracting meningitis have tested negative for the disease and were treated for common influenza, the Department of Prisons said, easing fears of a meningitis outbreak at the facility.
Department spokesperson A.C. Gajanayake told NewsFirst the seven inmates, who had been admitted to Hambantota General Hospital, were confirmed not to be infected with meningitis and have since been returned to the prison after treatment for flu. Two inmates remain in hospital.
As a precaution against the spreading flu-like illness, the department has temporarily suspended the transport of inmates to courts — with proceedings now conducted online — and halted the transfer of inmates from other prisons to Angunakolapelessa.
The announcement walks back the meningitis scare reported a day earlier, when officials said one inmate had tested positive and seven others were under observation. The cause of an earlier inmate death at the facility, which preceded the hospitalisations, remains undetermined.
Angunakolapelessa is a closed prison in the Hambantota District and one of Sri Lanka’s larger correctional facilities, where dormitory-style accommodation limits the capacity to isolate infectious cases. Authorities have not said whether the prison illness is connected to a separate cluster of suspected meningitis cases reported from schools and communities in Deniyaya, Diyatalawa, Kurunegala and Kandy earlier in May.
Source: NewsFirst — Inmate transfers and court visits temporarily halted at Angunakolapelessa Prison.
