The French authorities have confirmed the first case of Ebola identified on national territory. It is about a doctor who returned from a humanitarian mission in Congo. This represents the first diagnosis of hemorrhagic fever established outside the African continent during the current epidemic, the patient currently being isolated and in stable condition, reports IPN.
The French Ministry of Health specifies that the doctor, who was active in an international medical NGO, was urgently taken to a specialized medical unit. He left from the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa, being almost asymptomatic, with slight headaches, but his condition slightly worsened during the flight to France.
According to the cited source, immediately after landing in Paris, the patient was transferred under maximum safety conditions, to prevent any risk of contamination. Health authorities emphasize that the doctor has a “very low” viral load, which reduces the risk of transmission, however, the people he came into contact with are being identified to be placed in preventive isolation for 21 days.
According to the World Health Organization data, the Bundibugyo strain, which is circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has also spread to Uganda, has recorded over a thousand confirmed cases and approximately 270 deaths.
