Thai woman confirmed to be Ebola free, discharged from hospital

BANGKOK, August 25 (TNA) - A Thai woman suspected of contracting the Ebola disease virus (EVD) has already been discharged from a hospital, after she was confirmed to be free from the deadly disease. The Ministry of Public Health discharged the 48-year-old Thai woman from hospital on Monday afternoon, after a latest blood test assured that she was not infected with the fatal EVD. Dr Supamit Choonhasutthiwat, an expert at the ministry's Department of Disease Control, told journalists that a blood sample from the female suspect, who returned from Liberia recently, was collected on Sunday and the second blood test confirmed her safety. Dr. Opas Karnkavinpong, the department's Deputy Director-General, reported, meanwhile, that EVD outbreaks have continued in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria's Lagos City, with a total of 2,615 infected victims, 1,421 of them have died. In Liberia, authorities have already brought patients who earlier escaped back to a control system. Two EVD patients were, in the meantime, detected in Congo, but it is of the Sudan strain, which is less harmful than its Zaire strain, which has caused outbreaks in the three affected countries and the city. The EVD is considered an indigenous disease of Africa and the Geneva-based World Health Organization has not yet issued a warning about the EVD in Congo. Although the EVD has not been spotted in Thailand, local authorities have taken precautions to prevent any outbreak of the deadly disease, including screening measures at international airports. (TNA)