Hong Kong - A Nigerian man is being tested for the
deadly Ebola virus in Hong Kong, amid global fears
over the potential spread of a disease which has
claimed nearly 1 000 lives in west Africa this year.
A city government spokesperson confirmed that the
31-year-old man is currently quarantined at a
hospital and is being tested to determine whether he
had been infected.
"So far as we know this is a suspected Ebola case.
There will be results of the preliminary testing
tonight," the government spokesperson told AFP,
adding the man is being treated at the city's
Princess Margaret Hospital.
A densely populated city of some seven million
people, Hong Kong is particularly alert to the spread
of viruses after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
killed almost 300 people eleven years ago.
On 30 July the Hong Kong government said it would
quarantine as a precaution all people from Ebola
infected areas who showed any symptom of the
disease such as fever, vomiting or diarrhoea.
Last week a woman who showed Ebola-like
symptoms after returning from a holiday in Kenya
tested negative for the virus.
Local broadcaster RTHK reported that the Nigerian
man had arrived at the southern Chinese city from
his home country on Thursday and was vomiting
before he was hospitalised on Sunday morning.
Nigeria along with Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia
have been hardest hit by the latest epidemic, which
the WHO has called the worst outbreak of its kind in
four decades.
Nigeria - the most populous nation in Africa -
confirmed two new cases on Friday of the often
fatal haemorrhagic disease, bringing the total
number of infections to nine, including two deaths.
The World Health Organisation has declared the
epidemic an international health emergency, as
countries scramble to impose measures to prevent
any spread of a contagion that has claimed almost 1
000 lives.
http://m.news24.com/nigeria/National/News/Nigerian-tested-for-Ebola-in-Hong-Kong-20140810