A possible Ebola scare has emerged in Gujarat after a 37-year-old man who recently travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo was admitted to a hospital in Ahmedabad with fever-related symptoms.
The patient, identified as Amuri Lokula, had reportedly landed in Mumbai around 10 days ago after arriving from Congo, a country currently witnessing an Ebola outbreak. Officials said he later travelled across multiple locations in western India before seeking medical treatment.
According to health authorities, Lokula stayed in Mumbai for nearly five days after entering India. He then travelled to Silvassa and Daman over the next few days before reaching Vadodara on May 22.
After reportedly suffering from fever and cold symptoms for nearly six days, he was admitted to a hospital in Vadodara on May 26. Doctors became cautious after learning about his recent travel history to an Ebola-affected region and referred him to a government-run medical facility in Ahmedabad for further evaluation.
The patient has now been placed in an isolation ward while medical teams conduct tests to determine whether he is infected with the Ebola virus. Officials said his reports are still awaited and he remains under close observation.
The Gujarat health department has also initiated contact tracing measures to identify and monitor individuals who may have come into contact with him, including healthcare workers involved in his treatment. Authorities in Vadodara and Ahmedabad are coordinating closely as part of the precautionary response.
The development comes days after another suspected Ebola case surfaced in Bengaluru involving a 28-year-old woman from Uganda. She was shifted to the state-run Epidemic Diseases Hospital after showing mild symptoms such as body pain and fatigue. However, Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao later confirmed that her test results were negative.
The ongoing Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda were recently classified by the World Health Organization as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
According to the WHO, Ebola is a serious viral disease that affects humans and certain animals, with severe cases often proving fatal if not treated promptly.