A woman who travelled to Guyana from Ivory Coast in West Africa recently and was isolated at the Georgetown Hospital has been released after showing no signs or symptoms of the deadly Ebola virus.
The woman’s name has not been released.
The hospital monitored the woman for several hours on Friday after she was sent there by a private doctor that she had visited with joint pains. After realising the woman’s travel record, the hospital decided “out of an abundance of caution” to monitor her although she did not travel to any of the countries affected by ebola and had no contact with anyone linked to the virus.
The hospital became convinced late on Friday that the woman was ebola free after she showed no signs or symptoms of the disease and was never in an environment where she could have been infected. Doctors believe that her joint pains may be linked to the mosquito carrying chikungunya virus which has infected scores of persons across the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Georgetown Hospital, Michael Khan, on Monday confirmed to News Source that the woman is no longer a patient there and that that there was no longer any concern that she was exposed to the virus. He said the Ministry of Health, however, is expected to make checks on the woman and monitor her at her private residence.
The Friday afternoon scare sent tongues wagging across the city and persons expressing their concern. The Georgetown Hospital in a Friday night statement made it clear that the woman was not in any of the ebola affected countries and had no signs of the virus.
On Friday, the Government of Guyana announced plans to step up its efforts to monitor border regions and the airports. The Opposition party, APNU, has called for a broad based response to the concerns.
Filed: 27th October, 2014
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