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The Minister of Health said that an 18-year-old girl who traveled to Abidjan from neighboring Guinea tested positive for Ebola.
According to the country’s Minister of Health, Côte d’Ivoire has recorded its first case of Ebola hemorrhagic virus in 25 years.
Pierre N’Gou Dimba said on national television on Saturday that officials confirmed the case after testing a sample of an 18-year-old girl from neighboring Guinea.
“This is an isolated imported case,” he said, adding that the patient is currently being treated in the intensive care unit in the commercial capital of Abidjan.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stated in a separate statement that this case is the first time that Côte d’Ivoire has contracted the Ebola virus since 1994.
The WHO said in a statement: “This happened after the Ivorian Pasteur Institute confirmed the presence of Ebola virus disease in a sample taken from a patient who was hospitalized after arriving in the commercial capital of Abidjan from Guinea.”
The WHO stated that preliminary investigations revealed that the patient had travelled to Côte d’Ivoire by road and arrived in Abidjan on August 12.
It said: “The patient was admitted to the hospital after fever and is currently receiving treatment.”
Guinea, where the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak broke out, is the deadliest on record-a four-month Ebola outbreak broke out earlier this year and it was declared over on June 19.
Guinea also confirmed its first Marburg virus case in West Africa earlier this week. Marburg virus disease is a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola virus.
The spread of these two deadly diseases occurs through contact with infected body fluids and tissues, and symptoms include headache, vomiting blood, muscle pain, and bleeding.
The WHO said there is no indication that the current cases in Côte d’Ivoire are related to the outbreak in Guinea earlier this year. It said that further investigations and genome sequencing will identify the strains and determine if there is a link.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Marcidiso Morty, said in a statement: “It is of great concern that Abidjan, a metropolis with a population of more than 4 million, has announced an outbreak.”
“However, most of the world’s expertise in dealing with Ebola is concentrated on the African continent, and Côte d’Ivoire can use this experience and respond at full speed,” she said.
WHO said it is helping to coordinate cross-border responses, including the transfer of 5,000 doses of Ebola vaccine from Guinea to Côte d’Ivoire.
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