Maharashtra resident with Ebola symptoms kept at isolation ward

, Aug 11: A resident of Vasai in Maharashtra's Palghar district, who recently arrived here from Lagos in Nigeria, is being treated for symptoms of

at an isolated ward of a government hospital.

Maharashtra Health Minister Suresh Shetty said Lalit Kumar was suffering from vomiting after returning from Lagos. He is being treated in the isolation ward of a government hospital by doctors, he said.

His samples have been sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune, for confirmation. Shetty said there is no need to panic as Ebola infection can happen only if there is a close contact with those infected. The World Health Organisation had last week issued a global health emergency due to Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak.

WHO declared the current EVD outbreak as the "most complex outbreak leading to public health emergency," calling for global health alert in all countries.

The four countries affected with EVD are all in western Africa– Guinea (393 deaths), Sierra Leone (286 deaths), Liberia (282 deaths) and Nigeria (1 death).

PTI