Ebola spreads outside Africa: Suspected victim dies in Saudi Arabia

A suspected Ebola victim has died at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

 

The 40-year-old man suffered from a heart attack after showing Ebola-like symptoms, according to the county's health ministry.

 

He had recently returned from a work trip in Sierra Leone, one of the four countries afflicted with the current epidemic. 

 

The ministry's website said he was being tested for Ebola, but did not confirm whether the tests had concluded that he had the disease.

 

If the results are positive, this will be the first Ebola death to have occurred outside Africa since the epidemic began in Guinea in February. Since then, it has spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and, most recently, to Nigeria. 

 

 

There is currently no known cure for the disease, which has has a mortality rate of between 55 and 90 per cent.

 

This has been described as the worst outbreak of the disease in history, with over 932 deaths having occurred so far according World Health Organisation (WHO) figures.

 

In July, the WHO announced that it was launching an emergency response package worth £59m to try and tackle the disease, and Margaret Chan, director general of the organisation, warned of the risk posed to other countries.

 

“The scale of the Ebola outbreak, and the persistent threat it poses, requires WHO and Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to take the response to a new level, and this will require increased resources, in-country medical expertise, regional preparedness and coordination,” she said.