MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti) - A patient currently being tested for Ebola remains hospitalized at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) in Perth, Australia, The West Australian reported Tuesday.
SCGH has issued a statement saying that one of its patients is currently being tested for Ebola.
According to The West Australian, the patient is believed to be a woman in her 60s who might have contracted the virus at a conference in West Africa. At the same time, the hospital says that the risks of the woman being really infected with Ebola are extremely low.
"There's all sorts of other diseases you can have so it may well not be Ebola," Australian Medical Association WA spokesman Dave Mountain said in a statement, as quoted by The West Australian.
Another patient suspected of Ebola was earlier admitted to the Gold Coast University Hospital in Queensland, Australia. The patient is a 27-year-old Australian citizen who is now under treatment.
Cases of Ebola have been registered in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal. A separate outbreak, unrelated to the one in West Africa, is taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with the blood, body fluids or tissue of infected animals or people. There is no officially approved medication for the disease, and experts claim prevention is the only cure. Several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are currently working on vaccines.
