Get you up to speed: India reports first suspected Ebola case after woman travels from Uganda | News World
A 28-year-old woman has been placed in quarantine in Bengaluru, India, with a suspected case of Ebola after travelling from Uganda. The National Institute of Virology confirmed a negative test for Ebola, but health officials are maintaining precautions with a 48-hour isolation period pending further testing.
The Ministry of Health in Uganda is working with the Uganda Red Cross Society to manage evacuations and safe burials of confirmed Ebola cases. As of now, the World Health Organisation has classified the Ebola outbreaks in both Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo as a public health emergency of international concern, following the confirmation of five cases linked to travellers from the DRC.
The World Health Organisation has classified the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda as a “public health emergency of international concern,” amplifying the urgency for coordinated responses from local health authorities. In India, the health officials have placed a 28-year-old woman in quarantine as a precaution, requiring two negative tests before her release, despite her initial test returning negative for Ebola.
What remains unclear — It is not known whether the two aid workers in Italy were confirmed to have Ebola following their symptoms.
India records first suspected Ebola case in woman returning from Uganda
An Ebola outbreak has spread accross the DRC and Uganda (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
A 28-year-old woman who travelled to the Indian city of Bengaluru from Uganda has been placed in quarantine with a suspected case of Ebola.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated an epidemic of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda was a ‘public health emergency of international concern.’
Local authorities reported that the woman developed a mild body ache shortly after arriving in India. It was reported she had also transited through Ahmedabad in western India.
The National Institute of Virology for testing has confirmed that the woman’s test returned negative for Ebola.
Similarly, Anul Kumar Banagar, the medical superintendent of the state-run Epidemic Diseases Hospital, reported that she had shown no Ebola symptoms at the Indian airport after a screening.
However, for precautions, health officials have said she will isolate for 48 hours. She will only be released when she has tested negative for the disease a second time.
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A 28-year-old woman with suspected Ebola travelled to the Indian city of Bengaluru (Picture: Getty Images)
The Hindu quoted Dr Banagar: ‘The District Surveillance team and airport health officials were tracking her condition. She developed a mild body ache nearly 24 hours later, following which samples were collected and sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.’
The doctor explained that even if the woman tests negative, protocol states a ‘repeat test will be conducted after 48 hours of observation.’
He reiterated: ‘She will be discharged only after testing negative twice.’
This potential spread comes after approximately 220 Ebola deaths were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo after an outbreak was announced earlier this month.
Reports suggest the outbreak started several days or weeks before the Congolese authorities declared it.
Then, Ugandan health authorities reported on Monday that two new Ebola cases had been confirmed, increasing the number of infections to seven.
All have been linked to the outbreak in neighbouring Congo.
Conflict in the DRC is compromising health workers response (Picture: Getty Images)
A ‘rare’ Ebola strain with no cure could also be in Europe, after a health alert was issued in northern Italy after two aid workers developed Ebola-like symptoms.
The aid workers, who returned to Lombardy after a three-month trip to Uganda, are now presenting with symptoms consistent with the disease, including fever, nausea, vomiting, and intestinal problems.
The workers have been transferred to a hospital in Milan, which is equipped to deal with high-risk infectious diseases.
Meanwhile, Lombardy’s regional welfare minister has attempted to stop worries that the deadly disease could spread.
He told a press conference: ‘There is still no certainty that this is Ebola. We are hopeful that they will be negative.’
The risk to the public remains low.
However, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the ongoing conflict has been compromising the outbreak response.
Ituri Province, in the northeast of the country, where most of the cases have been reported, has been under military rule since 2021.
The civilian authority was replaced by a military general to help disable the armed groups that operate in the region.
The WHO has called the outbreak a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
Despite this military rule, violence in the region has continued and intensified. Attacks by residents on makeshift hospitals in Ituri have risen in the last week.
This weekend, at least 18 people possibly infected with Ebola fled a hospital after it was attacked multiple times by grieving families.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation, said that the east of the DRC was at the centre of a ‘catastrophic collision of disease and conflict’ as the outbreak outpaced the response.
He said stopping the spread in the region ‘depends entirely on humanitarian access.’
However, Dr Ghebreyesus stated that ‘ongoing clashes are driving mass displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps and severing critical containment corridors.’
He added that frontline workers are ‘risking everything, while attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible.’
What is Ebola?
Ebola virus disease is ‘a serious, rare infection usually found in certain parts of Africa,’ according to the NHS.
It’s typically caught by ‘coming into contact with the body fluids of an infected person or wild animal.’
Symptoms include:
being sick
diarrhoea and tummy pain
a skin rash
yellowing of the skin and eyes
blood in your poo
lots of bruises all over your body
bleeding from your ears, eyes, nose or mouth
muscle pain
sore throat
blood in vomit or poo
bleeding from nose, gums or vagina
Source: NHS
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