Mother and baby hospitalised in Russian Far East are checked for Ebola

Mother and child were hospitalised in Komsomolsk-on-Amur with symptoms of acute respiratory viral infection after a stay in the west African country, said the Minister of Health for Khabarovsk Territory Alexander Vitko.

'The child had a fever. They were offered hospitalisation; they took tests, including the Ebola virus test'.

Results of the test are expected late Monday or early Tuesday. 

It is believed the tests are being carried out at the Russian State Research Centre of Virology and Biotechnology, known as Vector, in Koltsovo, Novosibirsk. The centre is one of two places in the world permitted to hold stocks of Ebola for research purposes. 

Doctors 'do not see the symptoms of the dangerous disease [Ebola]' but 'there are signs of acute respiratory viral infection', Vitko said.

By Saturday night, the girl was reported as 'feeling better' but full precautions remained in place. 

The Russian mother and her daughter who has a Nigerian father were placed in an isolation ward of an infectious diseases hospital. 'It took us three long flights and stopovers to get from Nigeria to Komsomolsk-on-Amur,' said the mother.  'I suspect our daughter could have caught her fever then'.

Vitko said: 'Our medical and sanitary services worked according to the scheme designed for passengers arriving from Ebola infected countries of Africa'.

Russia is to establish a new system of airport checks for Ebola in the near future. The current Ebola outbreak has claimed the lives of more than 4,500 people, with a worldwide number of more than 9,200 confirmed, probable and suspected infection cases. 

The Vector research centre - one of the leading complexes of its kind in the world - is pioneering vaccines which are now undergoing tests. Three vaccines could be developed in the next six months.

There is no officially approved cure for the disease.