Suspected Ebola case was ‘hepatitis’, Sicilian media report

A Filipino sailor who was taken in by Sicilian port authorities may be suffering from hepatitis and was not infected by the Ebola virus, as originally suspected.

According to livesicilia.it, initial medical assessment carried out at the Maggiore di Modica hospital suggested he had hepatitis.

The sailor was onboard the MV Western Copenhagen, a merchant vessel that left from Guinea – one of the countries worst hit by the disease – en route to Ukraine. The vessel was denied entry by the Maltese authorities on suspicion that the man may have been infected by the Ebola virus.

While the government insisted that at no point did it have a clear picture of the situation, the symptoms as relayed by the captain matched the case definition of Ebola as defined by the World Health Organisation.

The symptoms reported were abdominal pain, mild headache, vomiting, fever and sore throat.

Muscat said the government sought the assistance of the Attorney General and experts on international law in taking its decision. Muscat insisted that the decision was both legally and morally correct.

“We are acting in conformity of all international conventions, where countries have a right to self preservation in that health systems and national security are not jeopardised.

“Morally, we know we are correct in not endangering Malta’s health system since we do not have a clear definition of what is on board.”