Macedonian authorities have has said they are checking for the Ebola virus in a British man who died within hours of being admitted to hospital in the capital Skopje today.
Authorities sealed off a hotel where he had been staying, isolating a second Briton and hotel staff. A health ministry official said the man arrived from Britain on October 2nd and had been rushed to hospital at 3pm today (1pm Irish time), where he died several hours later.
Dr Jovanka Kostovska of the ministry’s commission for infectious diseases said the man had been suffering from fever, vomiting and internal bleeding, and that his condition had deteriorated rapidly.
“These are all symptoms of Ebola, which raises suspicions with this patient,” said Ms Kostovska, amid fears that the disease might spread in Europe.
It was unclear whether the man had recently been to West Africa, where Ebola has killed nearly 4,000 people since March in the largest outbreak on record.
The health of a Spanish nurse with Ebola worsened today and four other people were put into isolation in Madrid, while the government rejected claims that its methods for dealing with the disease weren’t working, and blamed human error.
Teresa Romero (44), is the first person to have contracted Ebola outside of Africa, after becoming infected by one of two Spanish priests repatriated from Africa with the disease.
In total, eight people were in isolation in Madrid, though only Ms Romero had tested positive for Ebola. The others included her husband, two doctors who cared for her and an emergency services worker who had direct contact with her.
Three other people were released from the isolation unit on Wednesday after testing negative.
The European Commission asked the Spanish government for an explanation of how Romero’s infection could have happened in a high-security ward.
Ruben Moreno, health spokesman for the ruling People’s Party, said Romero had told another doctor at the hospital that she had touched her face with her protective gloves.
“It’s obvious that the patient herself has recognised that she did not strictly follow the protocol,” he said in a television interview.
Health workers -- whose unions have called for Health Minister Ana Mato to resign -- said the training and protective suits provided to hospital staff had been inadequate.
One nurse who worked alongside Ms Romero on the isolation ward while caring for the priests said the government was trying to avoid blame.
The hospital cleared its fourth floor to accommodate around 10 workers caring for those in isolation on the sealed-off sixth floor.
Airport screening
Britain announced it would start screening passengers entering through London’s two main airports and the Eurostar rail link with Europe for possible Ebola infections.
The European Union is discussing the introduction of airport screening, something the US government ordered at five major airports after the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States died yesterday.
Currently, passengers at airports in Africa must fill out questionnaires and be checked for high body temperature, one of the symptoms of infection.
The virus has killed nearly 4,000 people in West Africa since March in the largest outbreak on record. It causes haemorrhagic fever and is spread through direct contact with body fluids from an infected person.
The World Health Organization has said it sees no evidence of the disease being brought under control in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Suspected cases
A hospital in the Czech capital Prague is testing a 56-year-old man with symptoms of the disease, a spokesman said.
Texas health officials said they are expecting test results for a sheriff’s deputy who was admitted to hospital yesterday after saying he may have been exposed to the Liberian man who died yesterday. They called his risk for Ebola extremely low.
Separately in Washington, Republicans in the House agreed to release $700 million more to fight Ebola from the Defense Department’s request to shift $1 billion in war funds, bringing the total so far to $750 million.
US health officials, while answering questions about mistakes in the treatment of Liberian man Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas and overall preparedness for Ebola patients, have emphasised the need to tackle the virus at its source in West Africa.
“This is a fluid and heterogeneous epidemic. It is changing quickly and it’s going to be a long fight,” Dr Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today at a high-level meeting of major donors at the World Bank. Dr Frieden compared Ebola to Aids and said, “Speed is the most important variable here. This is controllable and this was preventable.”
Reuters
