France’s Health Minister Stéphanie Rist says the country’s first diagnosed Ebola patient has recovered and has been discharged from hospital. The patient is a doctor who tested positive after traveling to France from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an Ebola outbreak is ongoing. According to reports, the doctor flew to France on June 23 and, apart from headaches, was described as being almost asymptomatic. The minister’s statement says the doctor leaves the medical facility and returns home.
All accounts describe this case as the first time French authorities detect Ebola within France. Media reports also note that five other passengers on the relevant flight were identified as possible contacts and placed in isolation as a precaution. They add that during the 2014 West Africa outbreak, two patients were transported to France but had been diagnosed outside the country.
Reporting also references the scale of the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, citing figures that it has resulted in hundreds of deaths among people confirmed infected. The case in France is therefore presented as a contained first detection, ending with the patient’s discharge after recovery.
