A Brazilian man who recently returned from the last country currently reporting Ebola, Guinea, is being tested and monitored for the lethal viral disease, according to the Ministry of Health today (computer translated).

Produced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), under a very-high magnification, this digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts a single filamentous Ebola virus particle that had budded from the surface of a VERO cell of the African green monkey kidney epithelial cell line.
Produced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Minister of Health, Marcelo Castro said Wednesday that the patient, an unnamed 46-year-old male resident of Minas Gerais returned to Brazil last Friday (Nov. 6) and began to experience symptoms such as high fever, muscle pain and headache two days later.

Immediately after the identification of the suspect, the patient was isolated in the Emergency Unit of Pampulha in Belo Horizonte and medical personnel followed protocols for suspected cases of Ebola. All patients and unit staff who had contact with him are being monitored by the Municipal Health Department and a survey of other contacts has started, according to Castro.

The patient was sent to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Evandro Chagas in Rio de Janeiro today by Brazilian Air Force plane with a health care team. A blood sample has been taken and results are expected within the next 24 hours.

The  latest news on the Ebola situation in Guinea from the World Health Organization today notes Guinea reported no confirmed cases in the week to 8 November. A total of 4 cases have been reported from Guinea in the past 21 days, all of whom are members of the same family from the village of Kondeyah, in the subprefecture of Kaliah in Forecariah. All 69 contacts currently being followed in Guinea are located in Kaliah and are scheduled to complete their 21-day follow-up period on 14 November.

Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch

Follow @bactiman63

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