Ivory Coast has recorded the first case of Ebola, the health minister announced late Saturday, the first occurrence of the deadly disease in nearly three decades.
Pierre N'Gou Dimba said on national television on Saturday that officials confirmed the case after testing samples from an 18-year-old girl who traveled from neighboring Guinea.
"This is an isolated and imported case," he said, adding that the patient was currently being treated in intensive care in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
Ivory Coast’s Health Ministry said investigators are rushing to trace contracts but did not specify how many people are thought to have interacted with the young patient, who entered the country by road Wednesday from Labé, the second-largest city in Guinea, before seeking medical help the next day in Abidjan. Thousands of Ebola vaccine doses are on the way from Guinea, officials said late Saturday, and health workers — as well as people suspected to have come into contact with Ebola cases — will receive the first shots.
Meanwhile, a statement from WHO Africa on Saturday said: “There is no indication that the current case in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is linked to the earlier outbreak in Guinea. On June 19, the World Health Organization declared an end to a four-month outbreak of Ebola in Guinea that claimed the lives of 12 people there.
According to the World Health Organization, this is the first case of Ebola in the Ivory Coast since 1994.
Pierre N'Gou Dimba said on national television on Saturday that officials confirmed the case after testing samples from an 18-year-old girl who traveled from neighboring Guinea.
"This is an isolated and imported case," he said, adding that the patient was currently being treated in intensive care in the commercial capital, Abidjan.
Ivory Coast’s Health Ministry said investigators are rushing to trace contracts but did not specify how many people are thought to have interacted with the young patient, who entered the country by road Wednesday from Labé, the second-largest city in Guinea, before seeking medical help the next day in Abidjan. Thousands of Ebola vaccine doses are on the way from Guinea, officials said late Saturday, and health workers — as well as people suspected to have come into contact with Ebola cases — will receive the first shots.
Meanwhile, a statement from WHO Africa on Saturday said: “There is no indication that the current case in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is linked to the earlier outbreak in Guinea. On June 19, the World Health Organization declared an end to a four-month outbreak of Ebola in Guinea that claimed the lives of 12 people there.
According to the World Health Organization, this is the first case of Ebola in the Ivory Coast since 1994.
