EBOLA: US Embassy Official in Nicaragua Quarantined

A United States embassy official in Nicaragua has been placed under quarantined amidst fears that he had contact with Ebola.

Said official had reportedly travelled to Liberia, as confirmed by the embassy. He  had

however not come in contact with Ebola patients, nor did he show any sign of hemorrhagic fever.

Nicaragua has since asked the US to send a plane to remove him even as both the US and Nicaragua's health ministry had cleared him to return.

BBC reports that although, the 51-year-old man had been examined at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the US before returning to Nicaragua, the Nicaraguan government has asked the US state department to send a plane "with all the equipment necessary" to take him back to the US.

Head of Epidemiology at the Nicaragua health ministry, Carlos Saenz said the embassy official confirmed that he had indeed spent time in health facilities where Ebola patients were being treated. He however said that he, "does not show any symptoms of the disease and the measures are strictly preventive".

Over 10,000 people have died from the deadly Ebola virus with majority of the casualties found in the 3 worst hit West African countries - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra-Leone.

To this end, a number of Latin American countries have banned travellers from Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa.