Cote D’Ivoire Confirms Ebola Case

A case of the Ebola virus has been detected in Abidjan, in an 18-year-old woman of Guinean nationality, Cote d’Ivoire’s Health Ministry has announced.

The Pasteur Institute of Cote d’Ivoire examined the woman’s blood sample taken on Friday, and informed local health authorities on Saturday of the positive case, Health Minister Pierre Dimba said in a press release.

The patient had left the Guinean city of Labe by road, and arrived in Abidjan on Wednesday, Dimba said, adding she was “diagnosed and taken care of immediately” on Thursday by health services.

“This is an isolated and imported case,” the minister said, adding that the patient is currently in quarantine at the epidemic disease treatment center of the University Hospital Center of Treichville in Abidjan.

The government assured its citizens that “all measures that have been successfully tested in the past are (being) taken for the control of the disease,” Dimba said.

The government will promote the vaccination of frontline health workers, immediate contacts of the patient, and security forces at points of entry, Dimba added.

During an emergency inter-ministerial meeting held Saturday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Patrick Achi, the participants decided to reactivate community event-based surveillance for Ebola, and strengthen cross-border collaboration with Guinea.

On Feb. 14, Guinea declared a new outbreak of Ebola in Goecke, a sub-prefecture in its Nzerekore Prefecture. There have also been fresh cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo in its North Kivu province.

The 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola virus outbreak, which mainly hit Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, claimed over 11,300 lives, with more than 28,600 cases recorded.