Ebola test negative for Sardinian man returned from Congo
Auf einen Blick
- A man who returned to Sardinia from the Democratic Republic of Congo on May 30th has tested negative for Ebola.
- The man, who had mild symptoms of fever and cough, had stayed in Kinshasa, far from the affected region.
- Blood samples were flown to Rome for testing.
KI-generierte Zusammenfassung
Warum es wichtig ist
A man returning to Sardinia from the Democratic Republic of Congo showed symptoms of fever and cough, prompting an Ebola test. He had traveled to Kinshasa, which is geographically distant from the region experiencing an Ebola outbreak.
The Ebola test for the patient who returned to Rome's Spallanzani hospital from Congo on May 30th has been performed overnight. The result is negative; the man did not contract the disease during his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which began on May 8th. He had gone to his country of origin to meet some family members.
He had not been in the region affected by the virus.
When the alert came from Sardinia yesterday, the situation did not appear particularly worrying. The man, who had a fever of 38 degrees Celsius and a slight cough since May 28th, had remained for the entire duration of his stay in Kinshasa, the capital of the country, which is over 2,000 kilometers from the province of Ituri, where the epidemic is ongoing. Nevertheless, it was decided to monitor him. First, he was picked up at home by the 118 emergency service, which transported him to the hospital for isolation, while the firefighters closed off the road where he lives with his wife.
The flight of blood samples to Rome
Meanwhile, the Sardinia Region sought a way to transfer the blood samples to be analyzed to Spallanzani in Rome, a reference center for this activity. It took some time to find a means, until the Air Force made a flight available, which landed in Rome around 10 PM. After the transfer of the samples to Spallanzani, laboratory analysis began, ending overnight with a negative outcome. As many expected, the man does not have Ebola. "The risk in our country continues to be very low," they recall from the Ministry of Health.
EU video conference on Friday
The Cypriot presidency of the EU has convened an extraordinary videoconference of the Health Ministers of the member countries for Friday, June 5th at 3 PM, "to address the recent Ebola epidemic in Central Africa and to discuss further preparedness and coordination measures among member states," the presidency announced via social media.
A spokesperson added that the presidency has decided to use the International Registry of Infectious Diseases (Iprc) in "monitoring mode," to facilitate information exchange on the Ebola epidemic, as a "precautionary" measure. This decision, he specified, does not constitute a formal activation of the Registry, but is a means to facilitate information sharing.
Worauf zu achten ist
KI-Ausblick — Möglichkeiten, keine Fakten
EU Health Ministers will discuss Ebola preparedness and coordination.
Sehr wahrscheinlich · Innerhalb von Tagen
Offene Fragen
- What specific measures will be discussed at the EU Health Ministers' videoconference?
- What is the current status of the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa?
