In our post of 20 August, we reported that on 14 August 2021, a patient with Ebola virus infection was identified in Côte d’Ivoire. However, on 31 August 2021, the Ivory Coast health authorities and the WHO stated that the diagnosis could not be confirmed by a follow-up test, and the patient was no longer considered to be infected with Ebola.
Initially, the Ebola diagnosis was confirmed at the Institut Pasteur laboratory in Côte d’Ivoire. The samples were then sent for confirmation to an accredited reference laboratory for viral haemorrhagic fever in Lyon, where both the patient’s PCR and serology tested negative for Ebola virus. The Ivory Coast government then officially declared that the patient did not have an Ebola infection.