France's first detected Ebola patient recovers, leaves hospital
A doctor who tested positive for Ebola in France, the first such case on French soil, has recovered and been discharged from hospital.
France's health minister, Stéphanie Rist, announced on Saturday that the country's first detected Ebola patient — a doctor — has recovered and left the hospital. The physician arrived in France on June 23 from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is battling a major outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic fever. He tested positive for Ebola but was nearly asymptomatic, experiencing only headaches. This marks the first time Ebola has been detected in France; in 2014, during the West African outbreak, two patients were transported to France but had already been diagnosed abroad. The doctor worked for the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA), a medical humanitarian organisation. Five other passengers on his flight were identified as potential contacts and placed in isolation as a precaution. The latest Ebola outbreak in the DRC was declared on May 15, and according to government figures released on July 2, there have been at least 438 deaths among 1,406 confirmed cases.
