Portugal’s concerns that Ebola had arrived on national soil increased exponentially over the weekend after two suspicious cases came to light in Porto. Both involved nationals recently returned from Africa. The first case was discounted on Friday and this morning tests on the second patient were reported also to have come back negative.
Nonetheless, concerns are now that with the flu season taking hold, more and more people will be arriving at hospitals with symptoms similar to those of early-stage Ebola.
Another worry is that the second patient, who arrived at Porto’s Hospital de São João on Sunday – concerned that she was feeling unwell after recently returning from the Congo – had made her way to casualty on public transport.
In other words, if she had been contagious, authorities could have been faced with the added headache trying to locate scores of random people who might have come into contact with her.
Talking to RTP news in the aftermath of the scare, Margarida Tavares, clinical director at Hospital de São João, said anyone concerned that they could be carrying Ebola should contact the authorities through the health service’s Linha Saúde 24, before attempting to come in on their own.
Elsewhere, the weekend’s news on the spread of the virus was mixed. A new case as come to light in the United States, while the nurse who contracted the disease helping care for an infected health worker flown home to Madrid, is said to be showing signs of improvement after being described days before as “hanging between life and death”.
