Man under observation for Ebola virus found healthy: Government

CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: A 26-year-old man, who was kept under observation at a government hospital in Chennai for "screening and observation" for Ebola virus on his return from an African country, has been found healthy, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said today. "The Department of Health, Government of Tamil Nadu, has informed the central government that a person had indeed landed at Chennai airport from Guinea on August 9. He was checked for symptoms and was found healthy.

However, health authorities of the state are monitoring his health," an official release said in Delhi. It said Vardhan has denied reports in some media that it was a suspected case of Ebola virus. The Ministry of Health, in coordination with Ministries of Home Affairs (Immigration Department), External Affairs and Civil Aviation, is constantly tracking passengers arriving in India from the West African countries affected by Ebola.

Mandatory self reporting is in place, the release said, adding Health officers posted in identified international airports all over India are screening passengers (originating/ transiting from affected countries) getting off aircraft.

Till now all those arriving have been found to be healthy, the release noted. WHO has declared the current Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak as the "most complex outbreak leading to public health emergency", calling for global health alert in all countries.

The four countries affected are all in western Africa ? Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria, where close to 1,000 people have died as there is currently no available cure or vaccine for the virus that causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding.