Man Steals Phone from Dying Man, Catches Ebola Virus from it

Phone was worth $23.

A thief has caught the deadly Ebola virus after stealing a mobile phone from a patient with the disease, an African newspaper has reported.

Uganda's Daily Monitor reports that the 40 year-old crook travelled 3km from his home town to the Kagadi Hospital in the Kibaale district, and crept into the isolation ward in the dead of night.

He then made off with a patient's phone worth 60,000 Ugandan Shillings ($23).

The patient had the deadly Ebola fever, but before he died he managed to tell police of the theft.