Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) –- GlaxoSmithKline Public Policy Vice President Donna Altenpohl and Bloomberg’s Olivia Sterns discuss the efforts to find a drug to treat Ebola. They speak on "Market Makers." (Source: Bloomberg)
West Africa’s Ebola outbreak spread to a fifth country as a Guinean man tested positive for the virus in Senegal, a setback in efforts to contain the worst epidemic of the illness on record.
The patient, a 21-year-old man, is in quarantine at Fann Hospital in the Senegalese capital Dakar, Minister of Health Awa Marie Coll Seck said on state radio. The man was on vacation in Senegal, the minister said. Dakar is about 435 miles (701 kilometers) from Conakry, Guinea’s capital.
“He concealed the fact that he had contact in Guinea with victims of the disease,” the minister said. “To date, the state of health of the patient is satisfactory. It should be noted that the monitoring and response to Ebola virus has been strengthened and all means are implemented to prevent the spread of the disease from this imported case.”
Senegal’s case comes the same week that the World Health Organization published its $490 million road map for ending the epidemic, which has sickened 3,069 people and killed 1,552. The WHO’s plan seeks to stop transmission of the virus in six to nine months. More than 20,000 people may be infected before that happens, the United Nations health agency said.
The Guinean patient’s health has improved since he was admitted, Mbaye Diouf, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said by phone. The Ebola test was conducted Aug. 26 and the results came back positive today, he said.
The virus is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person. It causes fever, diarrhea, muscle pain, vomiting and as it progresses can lead to bleeding from the eyes, ears and nose.
The outbreak began in Guinea, spread to neighboring Sierra Leone and Liberia and also has cropped up in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country. Senegal closed its border with Guinea this month to prevent Ebola infections, slowing trade between the two countries. Six people have died in Nigeria, where the first case was a Liberian man who flew into Lagos, the country’s largest city.
Senegal has a population of about 13 million people and also borders the Gambia, Mauritania, Mali and Guinea Bissau. Its $15 billion economy is driven by exports of commodities, fish meal and groundnuts, according to the United Nations. Gross domestic product will probably expand 4.9 percent this year, faster than the 3.5 percent pace last year, the International Monetary Fund said in July.
A soldier is seen during inspection of people with an infrared thermometer for signs of fever, one of the symptoms of Ebola, at a check point in Nikabo, a village in Kenema, Sierra Leonea on Aug. 27, 2014. Close
A soldier is seen during inspection of people with an infrared thermometer for signs of... Read More
Close
A soldier is seen during inspection of people with an infrared thermometer for signs of fever, one of the symptoms of Ebola, at a check point in Nikabo, a village in Kenema, Sierra Leonea on Aug. 27, 2014.
To contact the reporters on this story: Andres R. Martinez in Accra at amartinez28@bloomberg.net; Olivier Monnier in Abidjan at omonnier@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net Kristen Hallam, Drew Armstrong
Press spacebar to pause and continue. Press esc to stop.
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1thTULW
0 comments:
Post a Comment