A Saudi man who was being treated for Ebola-like symptoms has died at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s health ministry says.<\/p>\n
If confirmed, this would be the first Ebola-related death outside Africa in an outbreak that has killed more than 900 people this year.<\/p>\n
The man recently visited Sierra Leone, one of four countries in the outbreak.<\/p>\n
World Health Organization (WHO) experts are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss a response to the outbreak.<\/p>\n
The two-day meeting will decide whether to declare a global health emergency.<\/p>\n
Ebola, a viral haemorrhagic fever, is one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, with a fatality rate of up to 90%.<\/p>\n
A WHO statement on Wednesday said 932 patients had died of the disease in West Africa so far, with most of the latest fatalities reported in Liberia.<\/p>\n
Concern has also been growing over a number of new cases in Nigeria, the region’s most populous nation. On Wednesday, a nurse who treated an Ebola patient became the second person to die of the disease there.<\/p>\n
The Saudi man who was suspected of contracting the disease died of cardiac arrest, according to the website of the country’s health ministry.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old is said to have returned from a recent business trip to Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n
The ministry’s website said he was being tested for Ebola, but did not say if the tests had concluded that he had the disease.<\/p>\n
The website said the man had been treated in an isolation ward and would be buried according to Islamic tradition, while following precautions set out by world health authorities.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia stopped issuing visas to Muslims from several West African countries, amid concerns that visiting pilgrims could spread the disease.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Saudi man who was being treated for Ebola-like symptoms has died at a hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s health ministry says. If confirmed, this would be the first Ebola-related death outside Africa in an outbreak that has killed more than 900 people this year. The man recently visited Sierra Leone, one of four countries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":37459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14,951],"yoast_head":"\n