Ebola case reported in Ivory Coast after Guinea outbreak
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — A patient has tested positive for Ebola in Abidjan, a city of more than 4 million people, marking the first case of the disease in Ivory Coast in more than a quarter century, the World Health Organization said.
Health officials said it was not immediately known whether the case was linked to an outbreak earlier this year in neighboring Guinea, which had been declared over in mid-June.
The 18-year-old Guinean woman now undergoing treatment in Abidjan had arrived Thursday by bus, raising fears that others may have become infected during her journey.
Ivorian Health Minister Pierre N’Gou Demba said the woman tested positive the following day, “and was diagnosed and treated immediately by our health services.”
It was not immediately known whether anyone else had fallen ill with Ebola in Guinea.
Ebola is transmitted by coming into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials. However, the early symptoms of fever and muscle aches resembles other common diseases like malaria.
“Further investigation and genomic sequencing will identify the strain and determine if there is a connection between the two outbreaks,” WHO said Saturday.
The area where the young woman began her journey in north-central Guinea is over 760 kilometers (472 miles) from Gouecke, where this year's earlier Ebola outbreak took place.
The new case also marks the first time since the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic that an outbreak has erupted in a city as large as Abidjan.
“It is of immense concern that this outbreak has been declared in Abidjan, a metropolis of more than 4 million people,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO's regional director for Africa. “However, much of the world’s expertise in tackling Ebola is here on the continent and Ivory Coast can...
