Senegal reports first case of Ebola as deadly disease spreads from Guinea

DAKAR

Senegal’s health ministry has confirmed a first case of Ebola, making it the fifth West African country to be affected by the outbreak.

Health Minister Awa Marie Coll Seck told reporters today that a young man from Guinea was confirmed to have contracted the virus.

The man was immediately placed in quarantine, she added.

The minister said “plans were being reinforced to prevent the disease from spreading from this major case”.

The current outbreak, which began in Guinea, has killed more than 1,500 people across the region.

At least 3,000 people have been infected with the virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that it could get much worse and infect more than 20,000 people.

FRONTIERS ARE PORUS

Senegal had previously closed its border with Guinea in an attempt to halt the spread of Ebola, but its frontiers are porous.

It had also banned flights and ships from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — the three worst-hit countries.

But the Guinean health services reported on Wednesday that “the disappearance of a person infected with Ebola who reportedly travelled to Senegal,” according to Senegal’s health minister.

A young Guinean student later turned up at a hospital in the capital, Dakar, said Ms Seck, but he did not reveal that he had had contact with Ebola patients in his own country.

Senegal, a major transit hub for aid agencies, has a large Guinean population.

Separately today, residents of Guinea’s second largest city, Nzerekore, rioted after its main market was sprayed with disinfectant in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus.

The exact cause of the riot is not clear. However, some people reportedly feared the spray would spread Ebola. Police responded by firing tear gas.

A 24-hour curfew is currently in place in the city, which is the capital of the Forest Region, where the Ebola epidemic has its epicentre.

INFECTION RATES

However the BBC’s Alhassan Sillah in Guinea says the town has miraculously remained free of Ebola so far.

There have been relatively few cases in Guinea recently, with far higher infection rates in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and six deaths in Nigeria.

On Thursday, WHO unveiled a plan aimed at stopping transmission of the virus in the next six to nine months.

Among its recommendations, it said countries affected should conduct exit screening to prevent the disease from spreading to a further 10 countries.

The plan calls for $489 million to be spent over the next nine months and requires 750 international workers and 12,000 national workers across West Africa.

At the same time, the widening Ebola virus crisis has caused sporting chaos, with Sierra Leone having to field all players from outside the country in the African Cup of Nations to avoid a growing quarantine.

The spread of the deadly virus to Senegal means more restrictions can be expected ahead of the Nations Cup finals in Morocco from January 17.

The Confederation of African Football has ordered Sierra Leone and Guinea to play their Nations Cup qualifying games on neutral territory.

CAF experts and WHO warned the public “to avoid huge gatherings that could facilitate the spread of the Ebola virus”.