Japanese woman cleared of Ebola

A Japanese woman suspected of having Ebola after returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo had turned out to be a false alarm, the nation's health ministry said on Sunday.

The Saitama woman, who is in her 70s, had tested negative for the infectious and deadly Ebola virus, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said in a statement, but she will continue to be hospitalized for doctors to monitor her condition as a precaution, it added.

According to an earlier statement by the ministry, the woman, who was not been identified, lives in the Greater Tokyo region. She returned to Japan from the DR Congo on July 31.

She had a fever of 38.2 C at 5 am on Saturday. It rose to 38.5 C at 5:50 pm and 39.2 C at 7 pm the same day, raising suspicions of a possible Ebola infection.

After she was hospitalized by Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the woman was tested positive for type A influenza and negative for malaria.

The Ebola alarm set off a panic in the country as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made quick instructions to treat the patient and prevent secondary infection, because millions commute every day from Saitama to Tokyo.

When waiting for the result of the patient on Sunday, Abe's office tweeted several posts on Twitter to ease the panic, with one saying: "It is said that the disease is contagious only when the symptoms become evident. It is therefore highly unlikely that the passengers who were on board the same airplane with the patient face the risk of infection."

The woman was based in the DR Congo for work for at least six months, local media said, without specifying her occupation.

Japan's health ministry said since the woman's return to Japan, her temperature had been taken twice a day at a health quarantine station.

Ebola victims will show symptoms after an incubation period of anywhere from two to 21 days. Symptoms include sudden fever, migraines, muscle pain then followed by vomiting, diarrhea or unexplained bleeding or bruising.

The Ebola virus cannot be transmitted by air or by mosquitoes but can be spread by direct contact with blood or body fluids.

This month marks one year since WHO declared an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the DR Congo, which left more than 2,600 people infected and 1,800 killed.