A luckless thief has caught the Ebola virus after nabbing a mobile phone from a hospital patient who was battling the disease.

The 40-year-old thief crept past security at Kagadi Hospital in western Uganda on August 14 before swiping the phone from a man in the hospital's Ebola isolation ward.

The patient later died in hospital from the hemorrhagic fever, according to reports.

Police tracked the thief through calls he made and then caught up with him when he returned to the hospital suffering his own symptoms.

He also confessed to stealing the phone, according to Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper.

"The suspect is admitted at Kagadi Hospital with clinical signs of Ebola," Dr Dan Kyamanywa, a health officer in the Kibaale district, told reporters.

"He is receiving medication. We have obtained samples from him."

Uganda suffered an outbreak of Ebola after the virus struck a remote western village in late July, killing at least 16 people.

A three-month-old baby was one of the first victims; then 15 people caught the virus at his funeral, Doctors Without Borders reported earlier this month.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has warned Ugandans to avoid physical contact, including kissing and handshaking.

Ebola spreads through close contact with the body or bodily fluids of infected people and kills up to 90 percent of those infected, the World Health Organisation says.

Between 50 percent and 90 percent of those infected with Ebola die within days. There is no known cure or vaccine.

Source:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/8523142/thief-catches-ebola-from-stolen-mobile-phone