Spreading Ebola fears in India...! A 28-year-old Woman has been hospitalized

Bengaluru: Amidst the resurgence of the Ebola virus disease in African countries, a Ugandan woman has been hospitalized after spreading Ebola fears in India.

A 28-year-old woman who had returned from Uganda with symptoms of the virus was shifted to a hospital in Bengaluru on Tuesday. She has been shifted to the Karnataka government's Epidemic Diseases Hospital for observation and further tests, health department officials said.

A 28-year-old woman, Nagire Latifa, who arrived in Bengaluru from Kampala, Uganda via Ahmedabad, has been placed under emergency observation after showing symptoms similar to Ebola. Her samples have been collected and sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune for testing and the reports are awaited, health department officials said. As per the protocol, repeat tests will also be conducted, the officials said. They are under observation and their health condition is stable at present and nothing serious has been detected, the officials said.

Health authorities are closely monitoring their health. The woman, who had returned from an Ebola-affected area, developed some of the symptoms. She was taken to the hospital as a precaution after experiencing mild symptoms such as body aches and fatigue. The officials said that they had previously stayed at a hotel and were transferred to the hospital from there.

On May 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern'. Following the outbreak of Ebola in several African countries, the Karnataka Health Department on Friday advised that individuals who have recently travelled to affected countries should undergo health surveillance and self-quarantine for 21 days after their return.

The health department has advised those showing symptoms to immediately report to the nearest health facility and rapid response teams to conduct surveillance. In Bengaluru, the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) has been converted into an isolation centre and the Epidemic Diseases Hospital has been repurposed as a quarantine and treatment facility. In Mangaluru, the Srinivas Port Hospital under the New Mangalore Port Authority has been designated as a quarantine centre and the Wenlock District Hospital as an isolation and treatment centre. Meanwhile, not a single Ebola case has been confirmed in India so far, and the central and state health ministries are on high alert.