Brazil rules out two suspected Ebola cases after laboratory tests return negative
Brazil's health ministry said two patients being monitored for possible Ebola infection have tested negative in laboratory analysis. The patients had been placed under observation in Belém and Rio de Janeiro. The ministry said its border-health unit will continue screening for travel history involving the DR Congo.
BBC Latin AmericaBrazil's health ministry has reported that two patients being monitored for possible Ebola infection tested negative in further laboratory analysis. BBC Latin America reports that an international medical student in Belém and another traveller in Rio de Janeiro had been placed in isolation based on initial findings.
Acting minister Mariangela Simão said in a statement that 'the system worked correctly' and added that surveillance protocols would continue while coordinating with the Pan American Health Organization. Fiocruz infectious diseases expert Margareth Dalcolmo commented that 'Brazil's hygiene-screening response has been successfully validated even as the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo continues'. Caitlin Rivers, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, called it 'a concrete case study for early-warning systems'.
Brazil said it would continue questioning travellers about DR Congo travel history at São Paulo Guarulhos and Rio Galeão airports. PAHO director Jarbas Barbosa announced that the weekly continental surveillance review would be held on Monday. This report does not constitute medical advice.
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