DNA test, US validation confirmed Ebola

Doctors at the Government General Hospital said the man showed no symptoms of being infected and all his vitals were normal. He was taken to his hometown in Theni district.

 The strain of Ebola virus detected in the 26-year-old man is of Zaire origin. This has been confirmed by scientists involved with the testing of samples at National Center for Disease Control (NCDC). It is the most fatal of the five strains of the virus that has led to the death of over 5,400 people in West African countries, including Liberia, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Guinea. Two people have died due to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the US.

Sources in NCDC said the confirmation was done through DNA sequencing. "We did not want to depend only on Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT PCR), the standard diagnostic tool. So, before confirming the case, we put his semen sample through DNA sequencing and contacted NIH in Maryland, USA, for validation of the findings," said a senior official, who did not wish to be quoted.

He said testing of the semen will be carried out on a weekly basis until the presence of the virus is completely ruled out. "The patient does not have any clinical symptoms which means he is cured. But isolation is needed to ensure he does not infect others," the source added.

The patient, who is being kept at the isolation ward of Airport Health Organisation (APHO) in New Delhi, had travelled from Liberia to India and reached Delhi on November 10.

Health ministry officials said he carried a certificate of medical clearance from the ministry of health and social welfare of the government of Liberia mentioning that "he has successfully undergone care and treatment related to Ebola Virus Disease and after post-treatment assessment he has been declared free of any clinical signs and symptoms and confirmed negative by laboratory analysis."

Some experts have, however, raised questions about the Liberia government's decision to allow an Ebola patient to travel to another country without monitoring his condition for the specified period of 90 days.

"It is a known fact that during recovery from Ebola Virus Disease, persons continue to shed the virus in body fluids for variable periods. It is unlikely that the person may infect others through personal contact. However, presence of the virus in his semen samples raises the possibility of his transmitting the disease through sexual route up to 90 days from the time of clinical cure," said a senior health ministry official.

"The Ebola patient is comfortably placed in the isolation ward. We are giving him food at regular intervals but no family member is being allowed to meet him for now," said a senior doctor at APHO. He said the 26-year-old will be kept under observation until the semen tests confirm non-existence of the virus.