Ebola arrives in Senegal as outbreak accelerates

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- A man infected with Ebola traveled to Senegal, bringing the disease to that country for the first time in an outbreak that has hit four other West African nations and killed more than 1,500 people, the Ministry of Health said Friday.<br /> <br /> The infected person, a university student from Guinea, sought treatment at a hospital in Senegal's capital, Dakar, on Tuesday but gave no indication he might have Ebola, Health Minister Awa Marie Coll Seck told reporters. The next day, an epidemiological surveillance team in Guinea alerted Senegalese authorities that they had lost track of a person who had had contact with sick people. The team said that the person disappeared three weeks ago and may have come to Senegal.<br /> <br /> The student was tracked to the hospital in Dakar that same day and was immediately quarantined, Seck said.<br /> <br /> A test has confirmed that he has Ebola, and the World Health Organization has been alerted.<br /> <br /> The Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa began last year in Guinea. Since then, the disease has spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. More than 3,000 people have contracted the disease, which is spread by bodily fluids and for which there is no licensed treatment or vaccine. A separate Ebola outbreak was reported this week in Congo, where 13 people have died from the disease.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2014/8/278903