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| Ebola outbreak: Senegal confirms first case | Ebola outbreak: Senegal confirms first case |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Senegal's health ministry has confirmed a first case of Ebola, making it the fifth West African country to be affected by the outbreak. | |
| Health Minister Awa Marie Coll Seck told reporters on Friday that a young man from Guinea was confirmed to have contracted the virus. | Health Minister Awa Marie Coll Seck told reporters on Friday that a young man from Guinea was confirmed to have contracted the virus. |
| The man was immediately placed in quarantine, she added. | The man was immediately placed in quarantine, she added. |
| The current outbreak, which began in Guinea, has killed more than 1,500 people across the region. | The current outbreak, which began in Guinea, has killed more than 1,500 people across the region. |
| At least 3,000 people have been infected with the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned it could get much worse and infect more than 20,000 people. | |
| Guinea riot | |
| Senegal had previously closed its border with Guinea in an attempt to halt the spread of Ebola, but its frontiers are porous. | |
| It had also banned flights and ships from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - the three worst-hit countries. | |
| But the Guinean health services reported on Wednesday "the disappearance of a person infected with Ebola who reportedly travelled to Senegal," according to Senegal's health minister. | |
| A young Guinean student later turned up at a hospital in the capital, Dakar, said Ms Seck, but he did not reveal that he had had contact with Ebola patients in his own country. | |
| Senegal, a major transit hub for aid agencies, has a large Guinean population. | |
| Separately on Friday, residents of Guinea's second largest city, Nzerekore, rioted after its main market was sprayed with disinfectant in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus. | |
| The exact cause of the riot is not clear - some people reportedly feared the spray would spread Ebola. | |
| A 24-hour curfew is currently in place in the city. | |
| There have been relatively few cases in Guinea recently, with far higher infection rates in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and six deaths in Nigeria. | |
| Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) |