Brazil, Italy and Kenya Investigate Possible Ebola Links After Travelers Return from DRC and Uganda

Health authorities in Brazil and Italy are investigating suspected Ebola cases in travelers returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. In Sao Paulo, a man from the DRC presented with fever after visiting the country and tested positive for meningitis. Brazil’s Health Ministry said the patient has been intubated and remains in serious condition.

In Rio de Janeiro, a patient who had traveled to Uganda tested positive for malaria. Local health authorities stated that neither case has ruled out Ebola and both remain under investigation. In Italy, a symptomatic patient who returned from Congo was admitted to a hospital in Sardinia, triggering Ebola protocols.

The patient in Cagliari, Sardinia, who flew back from Congo on Saturday with symptoms tested negative for Ebola, the health ministry said on Monday. The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the DRC reached 282 with 42 deaths after 19 new positive results, according to the communications ministry.

The outbreak has spread to 22 health zones across three eastern provinces, up from 13 zones reported days earlier.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak in the DRC and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern last month. Uganda has recorded nine cases, one of them fatal. Four nurses being treated for the Bundibugyo strain were discharged from a hospital in Bunia after recovering.

A laboratory worker recovered from the Bundibugyo strain earlier this week. The total number of people who have recovered from the virus is five, the World Health Organisation said. The outbreak is the 17th in the DRC and the third-largest since Ebola was discovered half a century ago.

It is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus. There is currently no licensed vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, the World Health Organisation said. Ebola spreads through contact with bodily fluids and contaminated materials.

Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain, and possible bleeding. The outbreak is occurring in areas impacted by armed conflict, mass displacement and weak health infrastructure. Mongbwalu in Djugu territory is considered the epidemic’s point of origin.

Hundreds of youths in the town of Nanyuki, Kenya demonstrated against the establishment of an Ebola quarantine centre at Laikipia Air Base on Monday. Kenya’s High Court suspended the establishment of the Laikipia Air Base Ebola quarantine facility and the arrival of any foreign patients two days before the Monday protest.

The case challenging the Kenya quarantine centre was filed by the Law Society of Kenya and a constitutional watchdog.

US officials said last week the US was planning to send Americans exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them home. The two organisations cited Kenya’s fragile health system as the reason why foreign Ebola patients should not be quarantined in the country.