Health

‘No evidence’ Ivory Coast patient had Ebola virus: WHO

Abidjan, Aug 31 (EFE).- There is no evidence that a woman who tested positive for the Ebola virus in the Ivory Coast had the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the country’s Ministry of Health said Tuesday.

In mid-August, the Pasteur Institute in the Ivory Coast confirmed the first case of Ebola in the country since 1994.

However, on Tuesday the WHO confirmed in a statement that a second laboratory in Lyon, France, “has found no evidence of the virus.”

“With the new results from the laboratory in Lyon WHO considers that the patient did not have Ebola virus disease and further analysis on the cause of her illness is ongoing,” the body said in a statement.

Ivory Coast Minister of Health Pierre Dimba said in a statement that the samples were sent to Lyon on Aug. 27 and as the results were negative, the government has decided not to classify the patient as an Ebola case, and to eliminate Ivory Coast from the list of countries with the virus.

The Ebola case was announced in Ivory Coast on Aug. 14 after a young woman tested positive for the virus after traveling by road to Abidjan from Guinea, which on June 19 announced the end of its latest outbreak. She was declared cured of the disease on Aug. 24.

The WHO said that since the Ivory Coast announced the case, more than 140 contacts have been listed in the two countries, but “no-one else has shown symptoms for the disease or tested positive for Ebola.”

The virus is transmitted through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of infected people or animals such as bats and primates. It causes hemorrhagic fever and can reach a mortality rate of 90 percent if it is not treated in time. EFE

ea-mrgz/tw

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