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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : September 22, 2014 10:12 AM IST
A one-year-old infant who sparked an Ebola virus disease scare in the Australian state of Victoria, has been tested negative, a health official said Sunday. Victoria's Health Minister David Davis said that it was the first case in the region, the Canberra Times reported. The child was admitted at the Royal Children's Hospital in Victoria.
The infant from west Africa, who had returned to Australia last week, was tested for Ebola at the children's hospital after being initially treated at Frankston Hospital with diarrhoea-like symptoms. It was the second time in Australia that an Ebola suspect case has surfaced. Earlier, a 25-year-old man sparked an Ebola virus disease scare in Queensland. He too tested negative. More than 2,200 people have died in an Ebola outbreak from more than 4,200 infected in the African nations of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.
Why pregnant women and infants are more susceptible to Ebola?
Low immunity makes them more susceptible
A healthy adult's immune system is strong enough to withstand the attack of various viruses and bacteria. However, the potent Ebola virus can penetrate the healthiest of persons and attack the immune system making one vulnerable to the Ebola virus disease. During pregnancy a woman's immunity is low, this is a normal physiological process of the body which helps the fetus adapt and grow inside the womb, so that the immune cells of the mother don't recognise the baby as a foreign growth and impede its development. Read more about Latest Ebola News: Why pregnant women and infants are more susceptible to Ebola
With inputs from IANS
Photo source: Getty images
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