A Saudi Arabia citizen, who was suspected to have contracted the Ebola virus after a trip to West Africa, has died, stated the country' health ministry.
The man is suspected to have caught the infection in Sierra Leone. After his return, he had arrived at a hospital in Jeddah, complaining of severe fever and stomach ache.
"A Saudi man suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus passed away at 8:45am on Wednesday at a specialised hospital in Jeddah", read a report on the Saudi health ministry website.
Samples from the deceased have been sent to WHO-affliated centers in the US and Germany to test Ebola virus and confirmation is still awaited, the statement added.
The ministry also stressed that it was trying to trace the travel plans of the deceased, in order to trace all people he might have come in contact with.
Alarmed by the Ebola death toll, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has activated a Level 1 alert, which is the highest level raised for Ebola till date.
CDC chief Tom Frieden made the announcement on Twitter on Wednesday.
.@CDCEmergency Ops Center moved to Level 1 response to #EbolaOutbreak given the extension to Nigeria & potential to affect many lives.
— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrFriedenCDC) August 6, 2014
The health official explained that a Level 1 alert is for cases which require cooperation with several agencies for handling an outbreak.
@gwendolbowling @infectiousJK Level 1=highest level of activation, reserved for largest-scale responses & often require agency-wide effort.
— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrFriedenCDC) August 7, 2014
According to USA Today, this is would be first time since 2009 that the CDC has invoked its highest level alert for a flu outbreak.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is getting out of hand. According to WHO, the number of people killed by the virus has crossed 900.
Reports also claim that the Nigerian nurse, who contracted Ebola while treating Liberian American Patrick Sawyer, has also succumbed to the disease. Local news source Business Day reported that the death of the nurse in Lagos was announced by the Nigerian Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu.
The nurse was among the several people who had come in contact with Liberian government worker Patrick Sawyer, a former Minnesota resident - who fell sick after arriving in Lagos via air and died on 25 July.
