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Denmark has its first ebola scare

Justin Cremer
Justin Cremer - [email protected]
Denmark has its first ebola scare
The scare at Hvidore Hosital "shows that our system works," authorities said. Photo: Joachim Rode/Hvidore Hospital

A patient who had been in west Africa was isolated in a suburban Copenhagen hospital late on Thursday for displaying symptoms consistent with ebola.

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Denmark had its first ebola scare late on Thursday night in what turned out to be a false alarm, Ekstra Bladet reports. 
 
The department of infectious medicine at Hvidore Hospital was closed down late on Thursday after a patient who had been in west Africa displayed symptoms consistent with ebola. Medical staff moved other patients in order to isolate the suspected ebola victim, but within a few hours doctors were able to rule out an infection. 
 
The Danish Health and Medicines Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen) confirmed to Ekstra Bladet that the incident marked the first time that a Danish hospital has isolated a suspected ebola patient.
 
“It is the first time that we’ve had a report on such an incident. But it shows that our system works,” Sundhedsstyrelsen spokesman Søren Brostrøm told Ekstra Bladet.
 
 
The incident in no way changes the threat level of ebola in Denmark, Brostrøm stressed.
 
“Our risk assessment is still very low and we still consider it very unlikely that we will have ebola in Denmark. It hasn’t been ruled out that it could happen, but the risk assessment is low,” he told Ekstra Bladet.
 
Earlier this week, a similar scare occurred in a Stockholm hospital but in that incident too the patient was given the all clear. 

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