Seven passengers on boat intercepted near Kinshasa test negative for Ebola

Aug 7 - Congolese health authorities said on Friday that seven passengers travelling on a river boat intercepted near Kinshasa had tested negative for Ebola, easing concerns the virus may have spread on board after the death of a passenger suspected of having the disease.

Authorities stopped the vessel in Maluku, about 65 km (40 miles) upstream from Kinshasa, on Wednesday after a 32-year-old man who had travelled on board late last month died in northwestern Mongala province.

All 300 passengers underwent temperature checks and clinical screening on Thursday and authorities deployed a mobile laboratory to the site, Reuters reported.

Only seven were tested for Ebola because people infected with the disease are not considered contagious before they develop symptoms, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, head of Congo's National Institute for Biomedical Research, told Reuters.

"All the tests we carried out on the seven passengers from the boat who presented symptoms resembling malaria, such as fever and headaches, were negative for Ebola," Muyembe said.

The boat was decontaminated and passengers were provided with food and medical assistance, provincial health official Isabelle Lumbwe told Reuters.

Videos posted on social media showed passengers protesting after the vessel was intercepted and prevented from continuing its journey.

SCREENING EXPANDED AFTER ALERT

Lumbwe said health services have been instructed to screen all boats arriving in Kinshasa following the alert, as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the virus to the capital of more than 17 million.

An Ebola outbreak was declared on May 15 and has now surpassed 4,000 cases, including 1,850 deaths, across five provinces in eastern Congo, according to the latest government data. REUTERS