Guinea identifies 58 contacts of Ebola patient in Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast’s first Ebola case since 1994 was discovered over the weekend in an 18-year-old Guinean woman.

Guinean authorities say 58 people have been confined to their homes after being identified as contacts of a woman who contracted the Ebola virus.

The Ebola case was discovered in Ivory Coast in an 18-year-old Guinean woman who had travelled by bus from Labe, Guinea, a journey of some 1,500km (930 miles).

It was Ivory Coast’s first known case of the disease since 1994.

Ebola is often deadly, causing severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding. It is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids, and people who live with or care for patients are most at risk.

The discovery in Ivory Coast came nearly two months after the United Nations’ health agency declared an end to Guinea’s second Ebola outbreak, which started last year and killed 12 people.