The Tribune

HEALTH Minister Dr Perry Gomez last night shot down “bogus” reports that a patient died in Doctors Hospital after contracting the Ebola virus.

Responding to rumours posted on social media networks, Dr Gomez said a foreign man who was admitted to hospital in Nassau on Sunday died from malaria.

“Early today, it was brought to the attention of senior officials of the Ministry of Health that a bogus claim was posted on the internet indicating that a confirmed case of Ebola was reported in the Bahamas,” he told the House of Assembly.

“I would like to make it completely clear that this posting is completely untrue, however hospital officials did indicate that late Sunday night the US Embassy in the Bahamas responded to a call to rescue a very ill person on a freighter passing through Bahamian waters. The patient was a 34-year-old white male from the Ukraine working on the freighter which was en route to New Orleans from The Congo, West Africa.”

Dr Gomez said the man was taken to Nassau and sent to the emergency room at Doctors Hospital. He was placed in a single room in isolation, he said, adding that the necessary precautions were taken by staff who attended to the patient.

“Full infection control precautions were put in place and followed by all who attended the patient.”

He said the patient was diagnosed with septic shock and treated with intravenous fluids, antibiotics and drugs to raise blood pressure.

Blood work at the hospital confirmed a diagnosis of malaria, he said.

The patient died on September 16. Blood has been sent to the Centres for Disease Control for analysis, he said.

Before his statement, a spokesperson for Doctors Hospital denied reports that a patient had died from the Ebola virus earlier this week.

Public Relations Officer Jessica Robertson said no patient at Doctors Hospital has, or has ever had, Ebola.

Concerns were raised of a potential outbreak in the Bahamas on social media yesterday after rumours began to spread that a man was airlifted to the capital earlier this week with symptoms of the Ebola virus.

Earlier this month Acting Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health Dr Delon Brennen said the Bahamas has been preparing in the event that the virus ever reaches these shores.

The virus is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. It is not airborne.

At its outset, symptoms of the virus are similar to those of the flu, featuring fatigue, fever, headache, sore throat and pain in the joints and muscles.

As the virus progresses, symptoms begin to include gastrointestinal illness like abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and loss of appetite.