Brazil monitors two patients for possible Ebola infection

While the two patients in Brazil are still being monitored for Ebola, they have already both been diagnosed with other conditions: in São Paulo, the man from DR Congo tested positive for meningitis and is in a serious condition, while in Rio, the Belgian patient tested positive for malaria.The respective diagnoses do not rule out the possibility of also having Ebola, officials say.Ebola viruses normally infect animals, typically fruit bats, but outbreaks among humans can sometimes start when people eat or handle infected animals.Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, including sweat, saliva, blood, semen, excrement, urine and vomit.On Saturday the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned that the rapid spread of the virus had caused an "alarming situation", with an unprecedented number of cases recorded so soon into the outbreak.WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is continuing a visit to DR Congo's Ituri province, the worst-hit area, where he is overseeing containment efforts.Despite the possible cases of the virus outside Africa, the WHO has stressed repeatedly that its global spread is highly unlikely.