Two people have been admitted to hospital this week with fears that they may be infected with the very contagious Ebola virus. One is a 13-year-old boy in Mallorca and the other a 24-year-old man in the region of Murcia. Both apparently flew into Spain in the last three weeks from Lagos in Nigeria.
Both
patients are suffering symptoms similar to Ebola, including muscle pain and
high temperatures, and are both are being kept in secure units under isolation,
which have the necessary infrastructure to deal with highly infectious
diseases.
The 13-year-old was taken to the Hospital Son Llàtzer, in Palma de Mallorca in the Balearic Islands, and the 24-year-old was hospitalized at the Hospital de Son Espases. In the meantime, blood samples from
both patients have been sent to laboratories in Madrid, where scientists will be
able to ascertain whether the two people are actually infected with Ebola.
Reuters is reporting that so far
this year, approximately 2,300 people have died in what is the worst Ebola
outbreak ever recorded. While Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Guinea are the worst affected countries, the disease is also spreading
to Senegal and Nigeria as sick travelers carry the infection.
Update:
In a later update, it was confirmed
that the 13-year-old boy is not suffering from the highly infectious disease. Also the child was also not infected with
malaria, according to doctors.
At present, the 24-year-old Nigerian
man remains in isolation.
Sources:
Photo: CC by 2.5 Ayacop
