“Det var inte Ebola”, or “It was not Ebola” was the headline in today’s Svenska Dagbladet (computer translated). In a follow-up to several reports yesterday concerning a suspected Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Stockholm, Swedish infectious disease doctor, Åke Örtqvist says the lethal virus has been ruled out.
“The person that was investigated for Ebola was not infected by the virus. The samples collected have now been analyzed and we can conclude that there is not any sign that the patient suffered from Ebola”, says Örtqvist.
“When people come home with a fever from infected areas is usually due to other diseases such as salmonella, malaria or the common cold”, says Åke Örtqvist. The person fell ill after visiting an area known to be hit by the virus and was in isolation being treated while confirmatory testing was being performed.
Örtqvist says, although the risk of Ebola is “very low” in Sweden, the hospitals and staff performed in an “exemplary fashion” with the suspect patient.
Sweden has five university departments with infection and some 30 infection clinics around the country with preparedness against a possible Ebola outbreak. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
Then what was it? It would be really nice if countries would say what the thing is, otherwise people tend not to believe the standard line ‘it wasn’t ebola’ , because we all know by now that ebola patients are testing negative a lot. Just trying to be helpful.