False alarm over suspected Italy Ebola case

A Nigerian woman suspected of being Italy's first Ebola case is in fact sick with malaria, regional health services said Wednesday.

The 42-year-old resident of Italy had recently returned from a trip to Nigeria, where eight people have died in the current outbreak, and was hospitalised Tuesday with Ebola-like symptoms.

Tests for Ebola conducted on the patient, who was isolated in a hospital ward in the central town of Ancona, were negative, regional health official Almerino Mezzolani was quoted as saying.

Italy is among several countries which have suspended direct flights to west African nations stricken by the Ebola outbreak and stepped up controls in ports of entry.

The worst outbreak of the tropical fever since its discovery in 1976 has killed 2,296 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, according to a World Health Organization count released on Tuesday.