Israel Quarantines Nigerian Tourist Feared Infected With Ebola
Medical workers of the Liberian Red Cross, wearing a protective suit, carry the body of a victim of the Ebola virus in a bag in the small city of Banjol. Image by Getty Images
A Nigerian visiting Israel was quarantined in Jerusalem for fear she may have contracted the Ebola virus.
The patient, a tourist who works as a nurse in Nigeria and arrived in Israel several days ago, was admitted to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem with fever, Israel Radio reported on Friday. The hospital put the woman in quarantine as part of its protocol for treating patients feared to be infected with Ebola.
But a spokesperson for the Israeli Health Ministry said that “the probability that the woman has contracted Ebola is low.”
On Thursday, the World Health Organization said that more than 1,900 people have died in West Africa’s Ebola outbreak. There have been 3,500 confirmed or probable cases in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
More than 40 percent of the deaths have occurred in the last three weeks, the W.H.O. said, suggesting that the epidemic is fast outpacing efforts to control it, according to the BBC.
On Wednesday, the first British person to contract Ebola during the outbreak was discharged from a hospital after making a full recovery.
Symptoms of the virus, which spreads through bodily fluids, include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage. Fatality rate can reach 90 percent, though the current outbreak has mortality rate of about 55 percent.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
