First suspected Ebola infection reported in Gulf
The passenger travelling to Dubai from Liberia was been quarantined after suffering from diarrhoea, but with a normal temperature
A banner hung this week in Ivory Coast's Abidjan describes ways to avoid the Ebola virus (AFP)
Published date: 13 February 2015 02:15 GMT
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Last update: 9 years 2 months ago
A day after passengers on a flight from Dubai to Boston were evacuated from their airplane on suspicion of having Ebola, UAE health authorities quarantined a passenger on Wednesday who arrived in the country with signs of deadly virus.
The passenger, who arrived from Liberia via Morocco, is the first person suspected of being infected with Ebola registered in the Gulf. While he has been isolated for checks after suffering from diarrhoea, the traveller's body temperature was reportedly normal.
All passengers on the same plane have undergone the necessary checks, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official WAM news agency.
The airport of Dubai is one of the main hubs for travel between the West, Asia and Australasia.
Ebola is only transmitted by close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person who is showing symptoms such as fever, diarrhoea or vomiting.
The worst Ebola outbreak on record has so far claimed 4,493 lives, out of 8,997 recorded cases since the start of the year, most of them in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
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