Ebola Suspects in Brazil and Italy Test Negative for Disease

Health officials in Brazil and Italy identified three travelers from the Democratic Republic of Congo who showed symptoms consistent with Ebola this weekend. Laboratory tests later ruled out the disease in each case. One patient who arrived in Italy tested negative for Ebola on June 1. In Brazil, two suspected cases on May 31 were confirmed as meningitis and malaria instead.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 1,100 suspected Ebola cases and nearly 250 deaths across Congo and Uganda as of May 31. The World Health Organization confirmed five recoveries from the Bundibugyo variant during the same period.

WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus stated on June 1 that patients who seek care quickly after symptoms appear can survive the current strain, for which no approved vaccine or treatment exists.

Kennedy airport in New York on May 29 as the fourth U.S. entry point requiring health screenings for passengers who visited Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within the prior 21 days. Similar screening is already in place at airports in Houston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.

Kenya’s government announced on May 30 it will proceed with plans to open an Ebola quarantine and treatment center at Laikipia Air Base for exposed Americans, despite a court order temporarily blocking the facility. Uganda closed its border with Congo on May 27. Ghebreyesus visited Bunia on May 30 to open a WHO treatment center and met with Congo’s prime minister to coordinate the response.