NOUAKCHOTT 

Mauritanian Health Ministry said that a woman who showed Ebola-like symptoms has not yet confirmed to be an Ebola case.

"The case involves a Liberian woman who entered the country a week ago but had not shown any Ebola-like symptoms when she entered the country," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, the woman and all those who had been in contact with her, including the nurse who attended to her, have been quarantined.

A fully-equipped medical team were sent to Hodh Ech Chargui Region, where the woman lives, to examine the case and take samples, it added.

"The case is still unconfirmed as Ebola Virus Disease (EDV)," it asserted, noting that the patient's health condition showed improvement.

Mauritania had already decided to deny entry to citizens from African countries hit by Ebola to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

In recent months, Ebola has claimed more than 1000 lives across West Africa, especially in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone.

The disease, which first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, can be transmitted to humans from wild animals and then spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected people.

Ebola has no confirmed cure or vaccine yet. However, an untested serum has been used.

The World Health Organization's emergency committee on Ebola declared the disease an international public health emergency, the third time such an alarm has been raised by the committee ever.

By Sidi Ould Abdel-Malek

englishnews@aa.com.tr

www.aa.com.tr/en