Guinean suspect in Thailand confirmed Ebola free

BANGKOK, September 3 (TNA) - A Thai expert, who formerly worked for the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO), has confirmed that blood tests of a 24-year-old Guinean woman showed a negative result. The Thai expert, Professor Emeritus Dr. Prasert Thongcharoen, who is now an advisor to the Ministry of Public Health's Department of Disease Control, made the confirmation at a press conference on Wednesday, saying that the foreign suspect's high temperatures have also lowered; so, he believed she did not contract the deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD) as feared. Professor Emeritus Dr. Prasert noted that another test on her blood sample was set to be repeated later in the day with its result to be known on September 4. Professor Emeritus Dr. Prasert acknowledged if the Guinean patient's blood test result shows negative again, she will be then discharged from a provincial Thai hospital and follow-ups on 16 other people close to her will end. Professor Emeritus Dr. Prasert stressed, however, that Thai authorities will continue to check international travelers from countries, where there are EVD outbreaks. The 24-year-old female suspect left Guinea, where the EVD is spreading, on August 18 and arrived in Thailand on August 20, when she passed an entry checkup without any high temperature. The foreign suspect later developed a high fever on August 29 and she, therefore, went to see doctor at the provincial Thai hospital, in which she has put in a disease control system since September 1. Her earlier blood samples were tested at Bangkok-based Chulalongkorn University and the Ministry of Public Health's Department of Medical Sciences. The Thai Ministry of Public Health earlier monitored a 48-year-old Thai woman who had returned from an EVD-stricken country last month, but her blood tests later confirmed she did not contract the fatal disease either. (TNA)