Tests show Guinean patient in Brazil Ebola-free

Brazilian health authorities announced Monday a Guinean citizen admitted to a hospital last week with possible Ebola symptoms is free of the disease.

As this was the only suspected case of the disease in Brazil, the country remains Ebola-free so far.

According to Health Minister Arthur Chioro, the patient was submitted to two separate tests to determine whether he was infected with the Ebola virus.

Results of the first test were negative, but following a World Health Organization (WHO) protocol, a second test was carried out to confirm the initial results, and that outcome was revealed Monday.

The ministry reported that 47-year-old Souleymane Bah arrived in Brazil on Sept. 19 to request asylum. On Oct. 8, he started having symptoms such as fever, throat irritation and cough, and sought medical help the next day in Cascavel, Parana state, in Brazil's southern region.

Bah was transferred to an infectious diseases medical center in Rio de Janeiro and the people who had had contact with him were also placed under observation.

With the tests giving Bah a clean bill of health, the 64 people who had had contact with him will stop being monitored.

According to Chioro, Brazil will continue to carry out emergency health drills at ports of entry, such as airports and bus stations, as well as other measures to prevent a possible Ebola outbreak.

The latest outbreak of the disease has so far claimed the lives of more than 4,000 people, mostly in West Africa.