Amid speculation about a possible Ebola case in the Bahamas, health officials say it’s unlikely that a woman who died on Sunday evening after being hospitalized following a trip to South Africa was infected by the illness.
The 51-year-old woman returned to the Bahamas on March 15 after travelling to Johannesburg, South Africa early this month, and subsequently went to the Accident and Emergency Department of the Princess Margaret Hospital.
A person infected with Ebola virus will typically develop a fever, a headache, joint and muscle pain, a sore throat, and intense muscle weakness. These symptoms start suddenly between two and 21 days after infection. Diarrhea, vomiting, rash, stomach pain and impaired kidney and liver function follow.Senior health officials said her symptoms did not suggest she had contracted Ebola, but she was being nursed in insolation at the time.
In an updated statement issued yesterday following the patient’s death, the Ministry of Health and its agencies, including the Public Hospitals Authority, Department of Public Health and the Pan American Health Organization, maintained that it was unlikely that the woman had contracted Ebola.
“Conclusive testing is being facilitated for a number infectious diseases, including Ebola, through the Centers of Disease Control in the United States of America,” it said.
The Ministry of Health also said that all standard protocols, including necessary protective measures in keeping with international guidelines, were followed in the management of the patient.
“The Ministry of Health will continue to work closely with PAHO and other international partners to ensure that effective measures are followed to safeguard the health of the public in accordance with international best practice,” it added.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), South Africa has had no reported cases of Ebola to date, although more than 28,500 people were infected and 11,300 died in the world’s worst recorded Ebola epidemic in the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
New Ebola infections in Guinea were confirmed earlier this month, on March 17, the same day that the WHO declared the end of the latest Ebola flare-up in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
The re-emergence of Ebola in Guinea is the first since the original outbreak in the country was declared over on December 29, 2015. (Caribbean 360)
