Brazilian health authorities are investigating two suspected Ebola cases in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as officials await laboratory results expected in the coming days.
The patients are being monitored separately after travelling from countries linked to the outbreak in Africa. Neither has been confirmed to have Ebola, but precautionary measures have been introduced while further tests are completed.
In São Paulo, a 37-year-old man who arrived from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) was admitted to hospital after he “exhibited symptoms such as fever,” according to the state government. Doctors later diagnosed him with meningitis, and he remains in a serious condition.
A second patient is receiving medical attention in Rio de Janeiro. The Belgian national recently travelled from Uganda and developed “viral symptoms such as cough, chills and diarrhoea.” He has since tested positive for malaria. Officials said the diagnosis does not rule out the possibility that he could also have Ebola.
If either case is confirmed, it would be the first recorded infection outside Africa since the latest outbreak began in DR Congo. The country has reported more than 1,000 suspected cases and at least 246 deaths, while Uganda has recorded nine confirmed infections and one fatality.
The outbreak has been linked to Bundibugyo, a less common strain of Ebola for which there is no proven vaccine. The strain is estimated to kill around one-third of those infected.
Ebola is believed to spread to humans through contact with infected animals, including fruit bats, which are widely considered a likely natural host. The virus can then pass between people through direct contact with bodily fluids or contaminated materials. It is not airborne.
Médecins Sans Frontières has warned that the rapidly rising number of infections has created an “alarming situation,” with cases emerging at an unusually fast pace early in the outbreak.
World Health Organization director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is visiting Ituri province, the area most severely affected in DR Congo, as health teams work to contain the spread.
Despite concerns over the possible cases in Brazil, the WHO has said that widespread international transmission remains unlikely.