‘Ebola’ patient has malaria

A SUSPECTED Ebola patient under observation at Son Espases Hospital, Mallorca, tested positive for malaria.

The 38-year-old man went to a health centre in Palma running a fever and told doctors he had recently been in Mali, one of the countries most-affected by the latest Ebola outbreak, along with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Authorities at the hospital thought it wise to initiate their Ebola protocol and isolate him.

He underwent a series of tests that came out negative, though he did test positive for malaria. The hospital ran a second round of testing and submitted the samples to Hospital Carlos III in Madrid to definitively rule out Ebola.

Sources at the hospital, however, told the media it was unlikely that he would be suffering from two diseases. The patient is reportedly responding well to the malaria treatment.