August 2014 – AFRICA – Ghana may be recording its first case of Ebola if tests on the blood samples of a Burkinabe man suspected to have died of Ebola proves positive. The man who was rushed to the Bawku Presby Hospital in the Upper East Region from Burkina Faso, died on arrival. The Medical Director at the Hospital, Dr Joseph Yaw Manu, who confirmed the incident to Citi News, said they sent the blood samples for testing because the man was brought in showing symptoms of Ebola. In an interview with Citi News, Dr. Manu said the patient was bleeding from his nostrils which raised their suspicion he may have died of the Ebola disease. Dr. Manu said they are awaiting the results from the blood sample test to verify the cause of death. He gave the assurance that the hospital is prepared to battle the disease. This is the fourth suspected case of Ebola reported in Ghana; two in Kumasi, one in Accra and now the Upper East Region.
Tests on the blood samples from the suspected patients by the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research all proved negative. The Ebola disease has killed over 800 persons in four West African countries including, Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an international health emergency due to the rapid spread of the disease in the West African sub-region. Ghanaians are currently apprehensive about the disease which has affected neighboring countries. The Health Ministries says it is working closely with all health institutions and border officials to ensure citizens are protected. –Ghana Web

Nun with Spanish missionaries dies of Ebola in Liberia: A Congolese nun who worked with Spanish Catholic missionaries in Liberia has died of Ebola, the charity she worked for said today in Madrid. Chantal Pascaline died early today “due to Ebola at the Hospital of Saint Joseph of Monrovia” in the Liberian capital, the Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God said in a statement. Pascaline worked with Spanish priest Miguel Pajares, 75, who left Liberia on Thursday and returned to Spain to receive treatment after contracting Ebola. The Hospitaller Brothers are in charge of the NGO that runs the Liberian hospital where the priest and the nuns worked. Spanish health authorities said Thursday that the priest – the first Ebola victim in the fast-spreading outbreak to be evacuated to Europe – was in stable condition with no sign of bleeding. The hospital is not providing medical updates for the missionary, at his request.
A weakened Pajares arrived in Madrid aboard a special hospital plane along with 65-year-old Spanish nun Juliana Bonoha Bohe. The nun had been cleared of Ebola before leaving Liberia, but doctors at Madrid’s La Paz-Carlos III hospital repeated the blood test on Thursday and said they would do so again in four days. The Hospitaller Brothers asked Madrid on Tuesday to “urgently” repatriate Pajares, Bonoha Bohe, Pascaline, and a Guinean-born nun, Paciencia Melgar, who was also infected with the virus. But officials said they would evacuate only the Spanish nationals. -TAP

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