MOSCOW, August 10 (RIA Novosti) - Test results of the man, hospitalized in Hong Kong on suspicion of having Ebola virus upon arrival from Nigeria, came negative, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing Hong Kong’s health department.
The 32-year-old patient was put in isolation on Sunday due to diarrhea and vomiting, which can be symptoms of Ebola, after he returned from the West African country. He is now in a stable condition, the agency said, citing the health department.
Nigeria was the latest country to be affected by Ebola, with seven cases and two deaths, and the third to declare a state of emergency on Friday, after Liberia and Sierra Leone. Hong Kong went on alert for the deadly virus last month.
Ebola symptoms resemble those of flu, and include fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and bleeding.
Two patients showing similar symptoms after trips to Nigeria and Sierra Leone with reported Ebola cases were quarantined in Canada and Germany over the weekend but both tested negative for the deadly virus on Sunday. A Romanian patient was isolated in Bucharest Sunday also upon return from Nigeria.
On Friday, the World Health Organization announced the virus outbreak an emergency situation of international importance.
The virus has killed 961 people as of August 6, and the number of infected stands at 1,779 infected, according to WHO. The virus has killed four people in Guinea, where the outbreak originated, 12 in Sierra Leone and 12 in Liberia.
There is no licensed treatment or vaccine for the Ebola virus, which has a case fatality rate of up to 90 percent. Medical workers use rehydration fluid and antibiotics to fight infections. Some groups have called for new drugs to be rolled out in Africa after two US aid workers infected with the virus responded positively to an experimental treatment known as Zmapp.
