Liberian Contracts Ebola Virus

The deadly Ebola virus, which killed 244 people in a Zairian city this year, has infected a man in the Ivory Coast, health officials said Friday.

The lone case was diagnosed in a 25-year-old Liberian man who health officials said was isolated in a hospital outside Tabou, near Ivory Coast’s border with Liberia. The man was admitted to a hospital last week with Ebola symptoms, including fever, diarrhea and vomiting.

After initial tests indicated Ebola, more tests were carried out at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, where Ebola was confirmed.

Unlike the May outbreak in Kikwit, Zaire, which spread rapidly and infected more than 300 people, it seemed unlikely this case would spin out of control. Ivorian health officials are familiar with how to contain Ebola since the well-publicized Zaire outbreak, which put governments throughout west Africa on alert.