A Saudi man who was suspected of contracting the Ebola virus while on a trip to Sierra Leone tested negative for the illness in post-mortem examinations, health officials said Saturday. The patient died Wednesday after spending two days in the hospital with Ebola-like symptoms, including viral hemorrhagic fever, according to the Saudi Health Ministry. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which performed the tests, will determine whether the man contracted another virus found in Sierra Leone. His was the only suspected case of Ebola in Saudi Arabia, and the country is "taking a number of steps" to ensure highly contagious diseases are quickly detected, the health ministry said.
More than 700 cases of Ebola have been confirmed in Sierra Leone, and more than 1,000 cases have been confirmed across Guinea and Liberia during an outbreak that has been furiously sweeping West Africa, according to the CDC. A Catholic organization said Saturday that a nun who was working in Liberia died from Ebola in a San Jose hospital. Thirteen cases have now been confirmed in Nigeria, prompting a desperate rush to contain the spread.
IN-DEPTH
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SOCIAL
— Elisha Fieldstadt
