Suspected French Ebola case tests negative, minister
A woman tested for Ebola in a Paris hospital proved not to have the deadly virus, Health Minister Marisol Touraine announced on Friday. There have been 11 suspected cases in France all of which have tested negative, she said.
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The woman was in Paris's Bichat hospital on Friday and at one point was reported to be a probable case of Ebola before tests proved negative.
Anxious to avoid panic after the first case of contamination outside Africa was reported in Spain, Touraine called a press conference on Friday afternoon where she stressed that there were no cases of Ebola in France and announced a hotline for anyone who fears they have been infected.
“Anyone who comes back from a country where the Ebola epidemic has taken off and does not have a fever is not contagious,” she said.
But she advised anyone running a fever in the three weeks following their return from an Ebola-hit country not to go to the doctor or hospital but to call emergency services immediately.
A nurse, who was repatriated after catching Ebola in Guinea, has been cured.
An opinion poll carried out between Wednesday and Friday showed 55 per cent of people asked were worried about the threat of Ebola to themselves or their family.
The death toll from the virus hit 4,033 on Friday, the World Health Organisation announced, with 8,399 cases recorded in seven countries.
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