All-clear for Commonwealth Games athlete Sesay after Ebola tests
An athlete at the Commonwealth Games has been given the all-clear after spending four days in isolation over fears he may have Ebola.
Road cyclist Moses Sesay, 32 and from Sierra Leone, was admitted to a Glasgow hospital last week when he fell ill the day after the opening ceremony.
Doctors tested him for various conditions, including Ebola – which is blamed for 729 deaths in an outbreak in four west African countries.
But Sesay, whose homeland has declared a public health emergency, was given the all-clear and released from hospital in time to compete in the men’s individual time trial at the Games yesterday.
He told the Daily Mirror: “I was admitted for four days and they tested me for Ebola. It came back negative but they did it again and this time sent it to London, where it was also negative.”
A spokesman for Glasgow 2014 said: “There is no Ebola in the Athletes Village of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
“We can confirm an athlete was tested for a number of things when he fell ill last week, including Ebola. The tests were negative and the athlete competed in his event on Thursday.
“We are dismayed by some of the sensational and misleading headlines to date.”
A spokeswoman for Health Protection Scotland added it was an isolated incident and no other athletes were tested. “No one has tested positive for Ebola in Scotland,” she said.
Today the head of the World Health Organisation meets leaders in West Africa, where more than 700 people have died from the virus.
Doctor Steve Monroe's a disease control expert:
