The Guinean woman earlier suspected of having Ebola virus disease, in fact, contracted malaria and is free entirely of EVD, a second blood test confirmed.
Dr Opas Karnkavinpong, deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control, told a press conference Friday that the test done by the Department of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University reconfirmed the earlier determinations the 24-year-old did not have the deadly disease.
Her symptoms, while indicative of the early stages of EVD, also are typical of malaria, he said.
The unidentified woman was moved out isolation and is being treated normally for malaria. Her doctor will decide on her discharge later. Surveillance also has ended on 16 people who had been in close contact with her.
She was admitted to a state hospital nine days after she arrived from Guinea on Aug 20 with a fever, runny nose and sore throat.
Dr Supamit Choonsutthiwat, an expert of the Department of Disease Control, quoted the World Health Organisation as reporting that 3,685 Ebola patients were reported in West Africa and 1,841 of them died. The outbreak is severe in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Limited epidemic was reported in Nigeria and Senegal.
From June 8 to Sept 4, 1,082 people arrived in Thailand from Ebola-stricken countries and none were infected with Ebola.