Africa-Press – Eritrea. Cote d’Ivoire has reported the first case of Ebola in its territory since 1994.
The country’s Ministry of Health confirmed.
World Health Organisation said that this comes after the Institute Pasteur in Cote d’Ivoire confirmed the Ebola Virus Disease in samples collected from a patient, who was hospitalised in the commercial capital of Abidjan, after arriving from Guinea.
The organisation added that the initial investigations found that the patient had traveled to Cote d’Ivoire by road and arrived in Abidjan on August 12.
The patient was admitted to a hospital after experiencing a fever and is currently receiving treatment.
“Guinea experienced a four-month-long Ebola outbreak, which was declared over on the 19 June 2021. There is no indication that the current case in Cote d’Ivoire is linked to the earlier outbreak in Guinea. Further investigation and genomic sequencing will identify the strain and determine if there is a connection between the two outbreaks,” the organisation said.
This year, cases of Ebola outbreaks have also been declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea.
Commenting on the outbreak, WHO Director for Africa Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said that it is of immense concern that the outbreak has been declared in Abidjan, a metropolis of more than 4 million people.
“However, much of the world’s expertise in tackling Ebola is here on the continent and Cote d’Ivoire can tap into this experience and bring the response to full speed,” Moeti said.
“The country is one of the six that WHO has supported recently to beef up their Ebola readiness and this quick diagnosis shows preparedness is paying off.”
