Suspected Ebola patient quarantined at JPMC in Karachi

47-year-old passenger arrived from the capital of Liberia -- one of the countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak

KARACHI: A 47-year-old man from Karachi was admitted into the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Monday morning on suspicion of contracting the deadly Ebola virus.

Muhammad Haroon arrived in Karachi by Qatar Airways from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia – one of the West African countries that have been hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak.

"The blood samples of the man will be sent abroad through the National Institute of Health in Islamabad and the results will be known in the next 72 hours," said Dr Seemin Jamali, joint director and in-charge of the emergency department at the JPMC.

“Upon landing at Karachi airport, the suspected patient had mentioned Liberia as the port of embarkation on his health card,” said Dr Jamali, adding that health authorities at the airport checked his temperature with a forehead strip, which was documented as 103 °F.

The airport health authorities transported the patient to the hospital's Medical ICU’s third floor, which has been designated as the quarantined floor, following a resolution adopted by the Sindh Assembly for taking precautionary measures against the Ebola virus by establishing isolation wards to quarantine Ebola patients.

“The suspected patient, however, appeared to be in good health,” added Dr Jamali.

This is the second suspected case of Ebola virus in the country. Last week, Zulfiquar Ahmed, a 40-year-old man from Chiniot, was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition and had been kept under isolation, with doctors fearing he might have contracted the deadly Ebola virus.

Ahmed who had travelled back to Pakistan from Togolese Republic, another West African country, died after a day; however, his blood sample reports established that he was suffering from Dengue and Hepatitis C.

Ebola virus has infected over 15,000 people in West Africa since it was first reported in Guinea in March, according to the WHO. Although the number of cases in Liberia appears to be falling, Sierra Leone and Guinea are witnessing a steep rise in the number people who are newly infected. Mali is currently fighting its second outbreak.

Ebola virus disease, formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. It is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected patient.