RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Brazil reported its first suspected Ebola case, a man who arrived from Guinea, a West African country in which the epidemic is spreading.
The patient, Souleymane Bah, 47, visited a healthcare center Thursday in Cascavel, in southern Brazil, complaining of a fever, and was immediately airlifted to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Rio de Janeiro. He arrived Friday.
Results of his blood tests are expected Saturday, and Brazilian Health Minister Arthur Chioro, who added "all health protocols and procedures were applied efficiently and with great success."
Bah arrived in Brazil on Sept. 19 from Guinea, a date within the three-week incubation period of the Ebola virus. He arrived as a refugee. Brazil has several flights per week between the cities of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro and African cities.
The 64 people identified as having coming into contact with Bah, most of them at the Cascavel center, are being monitored for symptoms. Brazil has several indigenous diseases, such as dengue fever, that can mimic Ebola symptoms, but this is the first incident of a suspected Ebola case reaching the Health Ministry's level.
The World Health Organization said Friday worldwide deaths from the Ebola virus outbreak crossed the 4,000 threshold, reporting 8,399 cases and 4,033 deaths.
