Man with Ebola-like symptoms dies at AIIMS

NEW DELHI: A man who was admitted to AIIMS yesterday amid fears that he had contracted Ebola, died today morning due to excessive internal bleeding even as doctors said it was unlikely that he was infected by the deadly virus.

According to AIIMS authorities, the patient appears to have been suffering from Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) and not Ebola.

"It appears to be a case of CCHF, which is also highly contagious and can spread with close contact with the blood, secretions or other bodily fluids of infected persons.

"It is unlikely that he was suffering from Ebola as he doesn't have any history of travelling," said a doctor at the premier hospital here.

"His samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) to ascertain whether he was infected by the Ebola virus or died due to CCHF," he added.

The patient was referred to AIIMS by a private hospital in Jodhpur in Rajasthan and was admitted to the department of medicine yesterday with symptoms of high-grade fever and vomiting.

Symptoms of haemorrhagic fevers are high temperature, headache, muscle pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain and external and internal bleeding.

"As the patient was not treated in the isolation ward, the AIIMS staff are anxious about the outcome of the tests," said the doctor.

The Ebola virus has killed more than 7,800 people, almost all in West Africa, since it broke out a year ago. One of the deadliest viruses known to man, Ebola spreads only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms such as fever or vomiting.