MOSCOW, October 6 (RIA Novosti) – A female Japanese tourist, suspected of having contracted the Ebola virus, has been quarantined at a private hospital in India, Xinhua reported Monday.
"Indian authorities have kept in isolation a Japanese tourist, suspected of having Ebola, at a [private] hospital in the northeastern state of Manipur where she arrived from the neighboring country of Myanmar," according to Xinhua.
The blood samples taken from the 27-year-old woman "have been sent for testing at the National Institute of Virology in the western state of Maharashtra", Xinhua reported, adding that all tourists arriving in India from neighboring countries will now be screened for Ebola.
The Ebola virus outbreak, currently taking place in West Africa, started in southern Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal, with an Ebola case having been reported recently in the US state of Texas.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the death toll from the Ebola epidemic has surpassed 3,400.
The virus is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected. There is no officially approved cure for Ebola, but several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, are currently working on Ebola vaccines.
