Ebola: 2 quarantined passengers from Nigeria test negative in Hong Kong, Canada

Two quarantined passengers from Nigeria have tested negative in Hong Kong and  Canada.  The two cases proved negative, as fears the deadly outbreak could spread around the world spark panic.

A 32-year-old man had tested negative in Hong Kong despite falling ill after arriving from Lagos, Hong Kong’s health department said yesterday. The patient was put in isolation after going to a hospital earlier yesterday as he developed diarrhoea and vomiting but no fever. As at press time, he was in a stable condition, the health department said. Hong Kong went on full alert for Ebola late in July.

The second case, a Canadian patient also back from Nigeria showed symptoms of fever and flu, possible signs of Ebola and was put in isolation in a Toronto-area hospital, Canadian health officials said. But Ontario’s health ministry said the patient had tested negative for the virus.

The unnamed male patient was being treated at the William Osler Health System’s Brampton Civic Hospital in a suburb of Toronto. “As a precautionary measure, Osler put in heightened infection control measures in the emergency department including isolating the patient,” the hospital said in a statement.

“To date, there are no confirmed cases of Ebola in Ontario and the risk to Ontarians remains very low,” said Graham Pollett, the province’s Interim Chief Medical Officer of Health. He also said that Ontario’s health care system “is prepared to respond should an individual arrive with symptoms that could suggest a disease, such as Ebola.”

Another senior Ontario health official, Eric Hoskins, said in a statement that with the “experience and lessons learned from the SARS epidemic, our hospitals have sophisticated infection control systems and procedures … and are fully equipped to deal with any potential cases of Ebola.”

Saudi authorities said a man who died last week after returning from Sierra Leone had also been found not to have had ebola. Fearful of the consequences, Saudi Arabia has banned Muslim pilgrims from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea from visiting as part of this year’s hajj pilgrimage. Meanwhile, in the US, returning missionaries who have been working with patients infected with Ebola will be put in quarantine and monitored, health officials said.