‘Ebola is real’: Uganda to trial vaccines and shut schools early to contain outbreak A doctor who’s travelled to Africa to help fight Ebola says he is already seeing a decline in cases of the deadly virus.
DAKAR, Senegal, June 5, 2014 — The first case of the Ebola virus in Senegal was recorded Friday morning, World Health Organization officials announced.
The Health Ministry says that a nurse working for the state-run Ministère de la Santé Publique of Dakar, the nation’s capital, became ill when she returned from a trip to the Monrovia area of Liberia on Thursday afternoon. The nurse was the first to test positive for Ebola in Senegal, according to the WHO and authorities.
After the nurse’s test was positive, a man from the neighboring country of Guinea was immediately flown to Dakar for treatment. There is no known connection between this man and the nurse that tested positive for Ebola.
The man was released from the hospital and told to stay in quarantine for 14 days, WHO has said.
According to the WHO, the man was not previously known to be in contact with the nurse or anyone in the medical staff who did not have direct contact with her.
Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever that typically causes vomiting and diarrhea but can also cause severe internal bleeding. The death rate among those who get infected can be as high as 90 percent.
After the man’s diagnosis, Ministère de la Santé Publique announced that the state-run hospital in Dakar will reopen on Monday, and all visitors will have to be screened by professionals to ensure that they have not had contact with the nurse who contracted Ebola.
The Ministère also said that all public schools across the country would be closed for two weeks and all other health-related activities, such as clinics, hospital visits and medical services, will be suspended. School students, teachers and local community volunteers will be asked to report to school buildings in the coming days to help prevent diseases and infections from spreading.
