The West African country of Senegal has
confirmed its first Ebola case one week after closing its
border with Guinea over fears that the deadly outbreak
could spread, the Senegalese Press Agency reported
Friday.
Senegal is the fifth country in the region where the virus
has spread.
Senegal's health minister, Awa Marie Coll Seck,
confirmed that a 21-year-old university student from
Guinea was infected with the Ebola virus and placed in
quarantine in the Fann Hospital in Dakar, the news
agency reported.
Officials in Guinea alerted Senegal on Wednesday after
losing track of the young man, the agency reported.
The man, who doesn't have any signs of bleeding, went
to the hospital for a checkup, the agency said. His
condition is stable.
On August 21, Senegal closed its border with
Guinea over fears of the Ebola outbreak, the
deadliest ever. The closure includes any
aircraft and ships traveling to Senegal from
Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia.
The Ebola outbreak "continues to accelerate"
in West Africa and has killed 1,552 people, the
World Health Organization said Thursday.
The total number of cases stands at 3,069,
with 40% occurring in the past three weeks.
"However, most cases are concentrated in
only a few localities," the WHO said.
The outbreak has been centered in Guinea,
Sierra Leone and Liberia, with a handful of
cases in Nigeria.
The overall fatality rate is 52%, the WHO said,
ranging from 42% in Sierra Leone to 66% in
Guinea.
The case of the Conakry University student is
the first one reported in Senegal, which is
northwest of Guinea.
Sierra Leone and Liberia border Guinea to the
southwest. Those three nations have been the
epicenter of the Ebola outbreak.
Corpses in the three countries are being
buried without determining a cause of death,
the WHO says. Medical staff cannot keep up
with current health demands, especially with
the limited supplies they have on hand.
Senegal is not the first country to close its
border during the outbreak. President Ellen
Sirleaf has shut most of Liberia's borders to
contain the virus. The few points of entry that
are still open are testing people passing through for
Ebola. Guinea and Sierra Leone have done the same.
Kenya, South Africa and others in the region are also
limiting travel to and from the area.
On Friday, the WHO urged countries to avoid actions that
compromise Ebola response efforts, such as closing
borders and entry points or banning flights. The
measures isolate and stigmatize the affected countries,
making it difficult to transport supplies, the organization
said via Twitter.
The crisis has taken a heavy toll on health workers
caring for those struck down by the virus. The WHO said
Monday that 120 health care workers have died in the
Ebola outbreak, and twice that number have been
infected.
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