5th August, 2014
Saudi Arabia is testing a man for suspected Ebola infection after he returned recently from a business trip to Sierra Leone, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
It said the man, a Saudi in his 40s, was at a hospital in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after showing “symptoms of viral hemorrhagic fever”, which resemble symptoms of the Ebola virus.
The ministry said it had taken precautionary measures, including isolating the patient at a specialist hospital and had sent blood samples to an international laboratory in coordination with the World Health Organisation (WHO) for further checks.
Saudi Arabia has been on alert against the spread of the virus from West Africa, where more than 800 people have died.
The Saudi authorities said it would ban pilgrims from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia from performing this year’s hajj taking place in October by suspending issuance of visas to the pilgrims from the affected West African countries for the annual hajj pilgrimage or for other visits to Muslim holy places.
Ebola is one of the deadliest diseases known in humans with a case fatality rate of up to 90 percent. The death rate in the current West Africa outbreak is around 60 percent.
WHO chief Margaret Chan said last week that an outbreak of the virus in West Africa was out of control but can be stopped with more resources and tougher measures. The outbreak is the worst since the disease was discovered in 1976.
There are no effective treatments and no vaccine to protect against Ebola infection. The disease is transmitted by direct contact with the blood or fluids of the infected, including the dead.