Brazil Rules Out Ebola in Two Travelers From Africa After Initial Tests

Brazilian health authorities are monitoring two patients for possible Ebola infection in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. A 37-year-old man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo exhibited symptoms such as fever and met the definition of a suspected case of Ebola, the Sao Paulo state government said in a statement on Saturday.

Initial tests did not detect the Ebola virus in the patient, but he remains under monitoring and isolation at a specialised infectious disease facility in Sao Paulo.

A man from Uganda showed viral symptoms such as cough, chills, and diarrhoea in Rio de Janeiro state, the Rio de Janeiro state health department reported. The Rio city government said the patient tested positive for malaria on Saturday evening and that the case remains under investigation.

More than 1,000 suspected cases of Ebola have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including nearly 250 deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Several infections and one death have been confirmed in neighbouring Uganda. The World Health Organization has said the true reach of the outbreak in the DRC is likely to be much wider than official figures indicate because the disease was probably circulating before detection.

Five patients have recovered from a rare type of Ebola virus, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a visit to Bunia in eastern Congo.

“Four people will be discharged today and there was one that was discharged the day before yesterday,” Tedros said at the opening of a new Ebola treatment centre in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province. ” The WHO said a patient had recovered from the Bundibugyo virus, the current species of Ebola, which has no approved treatment or vaccine.

It was the first documented recovery of a confirmed Bundibugyo patient during the current outbreak.

Baraka Bulambulu, one of the patients who recovered, told The Associated Press on Sunday that community members feared contracting an unknown illness from survivors and kept their distance while delivering food and medicine. “Being able to come out of this alive is an immense source of happiness,” he said.

” Ezo Étienne, a nurse who recovered from Ebola, said his symptoms began during ward rounds when he suddenly felt dizzy, then rapidly deteriorated into vomiting, intense itching, severe diarrhoea and extreme weakness.

He was tested seven times before Ebola was confirmed. His treatment remained limited to medications to control vomiting, fluids to prevent dehydration and pain relievers.