TOKYO (Sputnik) — According to a press release issued on the ministry's website, the unidentified patient has undergone daily monitoring since his return from Guinea on May 9. By early Monday, the 40-year-old began exhibiting symptoms including headache, back pain, and a fever of 38.6 degrees Celsius.
"In order to confirm the presence or absence of the Ebola hemorrhagic fever, the patient has been admitted to the medical institution of Fukuoka Prefecture," the ministry said in a statement.
Guinea was the first country to be affected by the December 2013 Ebola outbreak, which soon after spread to neighboring Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali.
The World Health Organization says there are a total of 26,724 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of the disease in the three most-affected West African countries. The death toll from Ebola now exceeds 11,000 people.
As of May 10, the organization reported seven new confirmed cases in Guinea and two in Sierra Leone, with the outbreak declared over in Liberia a day prior.
The Japanese Health Ministry's statement underscored that Ebola becomes infectious only after the appearance of first symptoms, so the risk of infection for fellow passengers that flew with the patient is "very unlikely."
