Telangana: Sudanese Traveller Tests Negative For Ebola; 2nd Suspected Case Under Observation

Hyderabad: Health minister Damodar Rajanarasimha said on Friday that the first suspected Ebola case reported in Telangana, involving a Sudanese traveller, has tested negative.

"The Sudanese national currently under isolation at Gandhi Hospital has tested negative for Ebola. The National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, has confirmed that the individual's samples are Ebola-negative after tests conducted by CSIR-CCMB, Hyderabad," the health minister said on X.

Four samples — two blood samples, a throat swab and a urine sample — were sent to the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, on Thursday. Testing was conducted under the guidance of the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

He said screening of international passengers was continuing at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Shamshabad, in line with the government of India guidelines. Symptomatic travellers are being shifted to the isolation ward at Gandhi Hospital, while asymptomatic passengers are advised home isolation with 21-day monitoring.

“The Telangana health department remains vigilant and is taking all necessary measures to safeguard public health,” he said.

Dr N. Vani, superintendent of Gandhi Hospital, said further action on the traveller, including discharge or home observation, would follow the directions of surveillance authorities. "We will act as per the directions of the surveillance authorities. Necessary precautions and monitoring will continue," she said.

The traveller had reportedly visited Uganda weeks earlier, returned to Sudan, and later arrived in Hyderabad. Airport Health Organisation officials flagged him during thermal screening at RGIA early Thursday after he recorded a temperature of 100°F and shifted him to Gandhi Hospital for observation.

The results of a second suspected case are awaited. The individual, a student of KL University in Vijayawada with a travel history to Ebola high-risk countries, was initially admitted to Apollo Hospitals, Nanakramguda, with symptoms suggestive of yellow fever and placed under quarantine. After developing a fever on the fifth day, he was shifted to Gandhi Hospital for further monitoring.

Doctors advised the student’s attendant, who is asymptomatic, to undergo 21 days of self-isolation as a precaution. Health officials said protocols from airport screening to isolation were in place and urged the public not to panic.

"Separate routes and lifts are being used for suspected cases, and all areas are sanitised immediately. Ebola does not spread through the air. Transmission occurs through direct contact with bodily fluids of an infected person, so there is no need for unnecessary concern," a doctor said.