US Embassy in Nicaragua denies staffer was in contact with Ebola

April 14^th, 2015 (InsideCostaRica.com) Nicaragua quarantined a U.S. embassy worker and is asking the U.S. to fly him home on fears that the diplomat had been in contact with Ebola, according to news reports from Nicaragua on Monday.

A live broadcast by government health officials claimed the 51-year-old staffer had been in contact with Ebola patients during a recent trip to Liberia in West Africa.

The U.S. embassy quickly downplayed concerns.  While admitting that the man had traveled to Liberia, “In no moment was he in contact with Ebola patients,” the embassy said in a statement shortly after the announcement by Nicaraguan officials.

The embassy said the man was fully examined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta prior to his return to Nicaragua, and had no symptoms of the disease, adding that Nicaraguan health authorities had been alerted of the trip and had approved of his return to Nicaragua.

Contradicting the embassy’s statement, Nicaraguan health officials said during a Monday press conference that the man admitted to being in contact with Ebola patients.

“The man confirmed that he had spent time in health facilities where Ebola patients are being treated,” said the head of epidemiology at the health ministry, Carlos Saenz. “The man does not show any symptoms of the disease and the measures are strictly preventive.”

Health officials have isolated the man in his home and set up a security parameter around it, according to reports.  The Nicaraguan government has requested the U.S. to provide a plane “with all the equipment necessary” to return the man to the United States.

The Nicaraguan government announced last year that it had set up an emergency office tasked with preventing the entry of the epidemic to the country.  The country’s health officials said at the time that the country would quarantine anyone who in the past 30 days had visited a country with confirmed cases of Ebola.