New Delhi: In a suspected case of the deadly Ebola virus, health officials have detained and placed under observation a 25-year-old man who flew in from Guinea to Chennai. He has been kept in the isolation ward of the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where his health is being closely monitored, reports said.
Hospital sources said the person arrived from the Western African nation to go to his home in Theni district of Tamil Nadu. Health workers who have been put at the airport to check passengers arriving from the Western African countries, where the Ebola virus spread, detained the passenger as a precautionary measure and moved him to the hospital.
Doctor S. Raghunandan, deputy medical superintendent of the hospital, told reporters that a separate team of experts have been deputed to observe the patient.
“As of now the patient is asymptomatic. A blood sample to Pune (National Institute of Virology) and the results expected within the next 24 to 48 hours. We are monitoring his temperature every four hours. If the blood results are negative for Ebola virus, we would transfer him to a local facility near his home but will continue to incubate and monitor him for a period of 20 days,” the doctor was quoted as saying.
